§2X4.1 Misprision of Felony: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 41% of the 234 people sentenced under §2X4.1 received a sentence within the guideline range (96). Prison went to 110 people (47%), and probation only went to 105 (45%). The median prison term was 12 months.
· Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2X4.1 Misprision of Felony › §2X4.1: FY2018
In brief: In fiscal year 2018, 41% of the 234 people sentenced under §2X4.1 received a sentence within the guideline range (96). Prison went to 110 people (47%), and probation only went to 105 (45%). The median prison term was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 234 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.
Sentences Within the Guideline Range
The Sentencing Commission had range information for 233 of the 234 people. A sentence within the range went to 96 (41%). A sentence below the range at the government's request went to 67 (29%), and below the range without a government request to 63 (27%). A sentence above the range went to 7 (3%).
The previous year, 2017, had 52% within the range, and the next year, 2019, had 60%. For all years of §2X4.1 from 2016 to 2025 the figure was 48%, and for all federal cases in fiscal year 2018 it was 51%.
The within-range share in 2018 was lower than in the years on either side of it. The records do not explain the difference, and one year does not establish a trend.
Prison, Probation, and Supervised Release
Of the 234 people, 110 (47%) received a prison term, and 105 (45%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 21 months or more. A quarter received 4.9 months or less. These are terms imposed by the court, not time served, and the gap between the 4.9-month and 21-month figures shows that individual sentences varied widely.
Supervised release was ordered for 95 people (41%), with a median term of 12 months.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 22 people (9%). Restitution was ordered for 32 (14%).
Restitution is payment to a person or organization that lost money. The data shows how many people were ordered to pay, not the amounts.
All Pleaded Guilty
All 234 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Of the pleas, 99% had a written plea agreement and 1% did not.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 234 people with that information recorded (0%). A mandatory minimum is a prison term set by statute as a floor, so no case here had one recorded.
In criminal history, 78% were in category I, the lowest, and 3% were in category VI, the highest.
Defining the Guideline and the Year
The Guidelines Manual calls §2X4.1 "Misprision of Felony". The Commission's offense type for the 234 cases is Administration of Justice.
The fiscal year began on October 1, 2017 and ended on September 30, 2018. All federal cases that year totaled 69,425 people, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas.
Across 2016 to 2025, §2X4.1 covered 2,122 people, with 54% sent to prison and a median prison term of 12 months. The yearly table follows.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 290 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 306 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 234 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 268 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 155 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 173 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 213 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 151 | 10.3 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 170 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 162 | 12 months | 100% |
What Is Missing
Only convicted and sentenced people are in this data. Acquittals and dismissals are not.
The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported. Court-martial records also lack a criminal history field.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X4.1 (234), 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)
- §2X4.1 Misprision of Felony: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2X4.1 Misprision of Felony: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2X4.1 Misprision of Felony: 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.