§2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
In fiscal year 2024, 202 people were sentenced in federal court with §2X5.2 as the primary guideline. 136 of them (67%) received probation only, and 66 (33%) received a prison term. The median prison term among those 66 people was 0.3 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific › §2X5.2: FY2024
In brief: In fiscal year 2024, 202 people were sentenced in federal court with §2X5.2 as the primary guideline. 136 of them (67%) received probation only, and 66 (33%) received a prison term. The median prison term among those 66 people was 0.3 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 202 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
Probation Was the Most Common Sentence
Most people sentenced under this guideline in fiscal year 2024 did not go to prison. 136 of 202 (67%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The other 66 (33%) received a prison term.
The prison terms were very short. The median was 0.3 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 5.9 months or more, and a quarter received 0.2 months or less. The prison terms are the terms imposed, not the time actually served.
What Guideline §2X5.2 Covers
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2X5.2 "Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)." It applies to misdemeanor cases that no other, more specific guideline addresses. The U.S. Sentencing Commission places all 202 of these cases in its offense type "Other."
The count covers people who were convicted and sentenced. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Acquittals and dismissals are not part of this data.
Pleas and Trials
199 of the 202 people (99%) pleaded guilty. 3 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 49% had a written plea agreement and 41% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term was 0.3 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 2 months, but that figure rests on only 2 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. A figure based on 2 people says little by itself.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
The Commission recorded the sentence's position against the guideline range for 201 people. 185 (92%) were sentenced within the range. 13 (6%) were above it. 3 (1%) were below it without a government request, and none were below it at the government's request.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 113 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).
Supervision, Fines, and Restitution
46 people (23%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 150 (74%). Restitution was ordered for 9 (4%).
In criminal history, 88% were in the lowest category I and less than 1% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How Fiscal Year 2024 Compares
Fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. Across all guidelines that year, 61,678 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 30 months. Guilty pleas were 97%, and 46% were sentenced within the guideline range. Sentences under §2X5.2 were shorter in prison length and more often within the range than the all-guideline figures.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,037 people were sentenced under §2X5.2. 48% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 3 months, and 84% were sentenced within the range. The 0.3 month median for 2024 is lower than the 2016 to 2025 figure.
Neighboring Years
In fiscal year 2023, 339 people were sentenced under §2X5.2, with a median prison term of 7 months and 55% within the range. In fiscal year 2025, 216 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 0.1 months and 99% within the range. The table below lists every year. The counts are small to moderate and the median moves a good deal between years, so one year is not a trend.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records also cannot show what conduct was behind each case, because the guideline covers many different misdemeanors.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 177 | 5 months | 94% |
| 2017 | 169 | 1.5 months | 92% |
| 2018 | 189 | 3 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 214 | 5.1 months | more than 99% |
| 2020 | 142 | 4.6 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 175 | 2.2 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 214 | 3.3 months | more than 99% |
| 2023 | 339 | 7 months | 99% |
| 2024 | 202 | 0.3 months | 99% |
| 2025 | 216 | 0.1 months | 97% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X5.2 (202), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.