> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# §2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2x5-2-class-a-misdemeanors-not-covered-by-another-fy2025/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:24:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:24:40.000Z
- Description: In fiscal year 2025, 216 people were sentenced in federal court with §2X5.2 as the primary guideline, and 213 of them (99%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 117 (54%) were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 0.1 months.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2x5-2-class-a-misdemeanors-not-covered-by-another/) › §2X5.2: FY2025

**In brief:** In fiscal year 2025, 216 people were sentenced in federal court with §2X5.2 as the primary guideline, and 213 of them (99%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 117 (54%) were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 0.1 months.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 216 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Nearly All Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range

The Commission recorded each person's sentence against the guideline range for all 216 people. 213 (99%) were within the range. 2 were above it, and 1 was below it without a government request. None were below it at the government's request.

For all guidelines combined in fiscal year 2025, 51% of sentences were within the range. Sentences under §2X5.2 were within the range much more often than that.

## Prison Terms of a Few Days

117 of the 216 people (54%) received a prison term, and 98 (45%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 0.1 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 0.2 months or more, and a quarter received 0.1 months or less.

These are terms imposed by the court, not time served. Because the terms are so short, the median and the quartiles are close together.

## Which Offenses Does This Guideline Reach?

The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2X5.2 "Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)." Cases land here when the offense is a misdemeanor and no more specific guideline covers it. The Commission's offense type for all 216 cases is "Other."

The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, and the primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The records do not say which misdemeanor each person was convicted of.

## Guilty Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements

209 of 216 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 7 were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 29% had a written plea agreement and 61% were straight pleas with no agreement.

After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 0.1 months. After a trial it was 0.7 months, based on only 2 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. That is too few people to compare these groups.

## Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History

37 people (17%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 12 months. A fine was ordered for 114 (53%), and restitution for 11 (5%). A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 122 people with that information recorded.

93% were in the lowest criminal history category, and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Comparison With Other Years and With All Cases

Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025\. Across all guidelines, 66,662 people were sentenced that year, with a median prison term of 24 months and guilty pleas at 98%. The median under §2X5.2 was lower than that.

In fiscal year 2024, 202 people were sentenced under §2X5.2, with a median prison term of 0.3 months and 92% within the range. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,037 people were sentenced under this guideline. 48% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 3 months, guilty pleas were 98%, and 84% were sentenced within the range. The table lists each year.

| 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%            |

## What These Numbers Cannot Show

There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records do not explain why the median changed from year to year, and one fiscal year with 216 people is not a trend.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2X5.2 (216), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [§2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2x5-2-class-a-misdemeanors-not-covered-by-another/) (overview)
- [§2X5.2 Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline): Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2x5-2-class-a-misdemeanors-not-covered-by-another-fy2024/) (previous or next fiscal year)
- [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/)
- [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.