§2X3.1 Accessory After the Fact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 97 people were sentenced under §2X3.1 as the primary guideline, and 81 (84%) received a prison term with a median of 30 months (2.5 years). No one had a mandatory minimum prison term, and 9% of sentences were above the guideline range.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2X3.1 Accessory After the Fact › §2X3.1: FY2022
In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 97 people were sentenced under §2X3.1 as the primary guideline, and 81 (84%) received a prison term with a median of 30 months (2.5 years). No one had a mandatory minimum prison term, and 9% of sentences were above the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 97 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Sentences Above the Range
In fiscal year 2022, 9% of sentences under §2X3.1 (9 people) were above the guideline range. Within the range: 28% (27). Below the range at the government's request: 39% (38). Below the range without a government request: 24% (23).
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, 42% of sentences were within the range. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the §2X3.1 share was 32%. The fiscal year 2021 share was 24%, and the fiscal year 2023 share was 24%.
The records show where each sentence fell. They do not give the reasons.
Prison, Probation, and Prison Lengths
A prison term went to 81 of the 97 people (84%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 11 (11%).
Among those sent to prison, the median was 30 months. A quarter received 48 months or more, and a quarter received 15 months or less. Prison terms are those imposed and not the time served.
The all-guidelines median in fiscal year 2022 was also 30 months, but that figure covers every offense type.
Trials and Pleas
A total of 94 of 97 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 93% had a written plea agreement and 7% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 31.5 months. After a trial it was 20 months, based on 3 people sent to prison. The trial group is too small to support any general statement about trials.
No one among the 97 people with that information recorded had a mandatory minimum prison term.
Guideline Title and Offense Types
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2X3.1 "Accessory After the Fact." Each person is counted once, under the primary guideline for their most serious count.
The Commission's most common offense types for these cases in fiscal year 2022 were Drug Trafficking 21, Murder 14, Robbery 13, and Assault 8. Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
Supervised Release, Money Orders, and Criminal History
Supervised release followed prison for 77 people (79%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 14 (14%) and restitution for 13 (13%).
For criminal history, 54% were in category I and 6% in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Years Nearby and What Is Missing
There were 71 people in fiscal year 2021, with a median of 27.6 months, and 82 in fiscal year 2023, with a median of 26 months. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 827 people were sentenced under this guideline. The yearly table lists each year.
Only convicted and sentenced people are in the data. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 82 | 26.1 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 99 | 25 months | 89% |
| 2018 | 90 | 27 months | 91% |
| 2019 | 88 | 36 months | 91% |
| 2020 | 55 | 30 months | 93% |
| 2021 | 71 | 27.6 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 97 | 30 months | 97% |
| 2023 | 82 | 26 months | 96% |
| 2024 | 90 | 48 months | 89% |
| 2025 | 73 | 24 months | 90% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X3.1 (97), 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)
- §2X3.1 Accessory After the Fact: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2X3.1 Accessory After the Fact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2X3.1 Accessory After the Fact: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.