§2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 4 of the 23 people sentenced under §2X1.1 were convicted after a trial, and their median prison term was 132 months. The median after a guilty plea was 24 months. Across all 23 people, 19 (83%) received a prison term, with a median of 27 months (2.2 years).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by › §2X1.1: FY2018
In brief: In fiscal year 2018, 4 of the 23 people sentenced under §2X1.1 were convicted after a trial, and their median prison term was 132 months. The median after a guilty plea was 24 months. Across all 23 people, 19 (83%) received a prison term, with a median of 27 months (2.2 years).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 23 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Trial and Plea Sentences Compared
19 of the 23 people (83%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 24 months. After a trial it was 132 months, based on 4 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
The trial figure is higher, but the data cannot show why. The people in each group may have faced different charges, different facts, and different roles, none of which the Commission's data describes here. A base of 4 people is small for a median.
Among guilty pleas, 89% had a written plea agreement, and 11% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Overall Prison Terms
19 of the 23 (83%) received a prison term, and 4 (17%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 27 months (2.2 years). A quarter received 61.5 months or more, and a quarter received 8.4 months or less.
18 people (78%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 0 (0%), and restitution for 2 (9%). A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 23 people with that information recorded (0%).
A General Guideline With Varied Offenses
Guideline §2X1.1 is titled "Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline)" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. In fiscal year 2018, 23 people had §2X1.1 as the primary guideline.
The Commission's offense types for them were Robbery 8, Kidnapping 4, Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement 3, and Money Laundering 2. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
11 sentences (48%) were within the range. 5 (22%) were below the range at the government's request, and 6 (26%) were below the range without a government request. 1 sentence (4%) was above the range.
The all-years share within the range under §2X1.1 is 43%, and for all guidelines in fiscal year 2018 it is 51%. The 2018 share of 48% is higher than the first and lower than the second.
65% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category, and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Years Before and After
The previous fiscal year, 2017, had 15 people and a median prison term of 28 months. The next fiscal year, 2019, had 16 people and a median of 36.5 months. In 2018, the median was lower than the all-years median of 36 months.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 152 people were sentenced under §2X1.1. 89% were sent to prison, and guilty pleas were 91%. In all of fiscal year 2018, 69,425 people were sentenced under every guideline, with a median prison term of 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 13 | 60 months | 92% |
| 2017 | 15 | 28 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 23 | 27 months | 83% |
| 2019 | 16 | 36.5 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 13 | 24 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 16 | 20 months | 94% |
| 2022 | 15 | 33 months | 80% |
| 2023 | 20 | 41 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 10 | 33.5 months | 90% |
| 2025 | 11 | 60 months | 100% |
What the Records Cannot Answer
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X1.1 (23), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2X1.1 Attempt, Solicitation, or Conspiracy (Not Covered by a Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.