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# Federal Individual Rights Offense Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-individual-rights-sentences-district-of-south-carolina/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:33:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:33:22.000Z
- Description: 10 people were sentenced in the District of South Carolina for the offense type "Individual Rights" in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 8 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 46 months (3.8 years). 8 of the 10 pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-district-of-south-carolina/) › Individual Rights Offense: District of South Carolina

**In brief:** 10 people were sentenced in the District of South Carolina for the offense type "Individual Rights" in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 8 (80%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 46 months (3.8 years). 8 of the 10 pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial.

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 10 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 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/).

## How Cases Ended: 8 Pleas and 2 Trials

8 of the 10 people (80%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. Of the 8 guilty pleas, 7 had a written plea agreement and 1 was a straight plea with no agreement.

Across all 94 districts, 80% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, the figure was 98%.

The median prison term after a guilty plea was 62 months. After a trial it was 46 months, based on the 2 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. With 2 people, that figure describes very little.

## What "Individual Rights" Means Here

The Sentencing Commission assigns each case to an offense type by its primary guideline. In this district, 7 of the 10 cases used §2H1.1 (Offenses Involving Individual Rights).

2 used §2H4.1 (Peonage, Involuntary Servitude, and Slave Trade), and 1 used §2H3.3 (Obstructing Correspondence).

These 10 people were less than 1% of the 6,874 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.

## Prison Terms Against Other Benchmarks

The 8 people sent to prison had a median prison term of 46 months. A quarter received 93 months or more, and a quarter received 33 months or less. 2 people (20%) received probation only.

For this offense type across all 94 districts, 68% were sent to prison and the median prison term was 30 months. The median in this district was higher, and the share sent to prison was higher.

For all offenses in the district, the median prison term was 48.2 months. The median for this offense type was about the same as that figure, a little lower.

## Guideline Range, Minimums, and Supervised Release

For all 10 people, 40% (4) of sentences were within the guideline range. 30% (3) were below the range at the government's request, and 30% (3) were below it without a government request. None was above the range.

Across all 94 districts, 38% of sentences were within the range. A mandatory minimum applied to 0 of the 10 people.

7 people (70%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. No fine was ordered, and restitution was ordered for 4 people (40%).

## Criminal History

90% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 0% were in category VI, the highest.

Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no counterpart in military cases.

## Small Yearly Counts

3 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 7 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

No year had more than 2 people. The yearly medians in the table are very small samples and do not show a trend.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 1                | 7.6 months    | 1 of 1         |
| 2018        | 2                | 126 months    | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 2                | 102 months    | 2 of 2         |
| 2021        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |
| 2022        | 2                | 46 months     | 0 of 2         |
| 2023        | 1                | 40 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2025        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |

## What the Records Cannot Show

The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not included. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.

The records do not describe the facts of any case. This post reports federal numbers on their own; courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of South Carolina (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "South Carolina") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Individual Rights" (10). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.

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)
- [Federal Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-district-of-south-carolina/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-district-of-south-carolina/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-district-of-south-carolina/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-district-of-south-carolina/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-district-of-south-carolina/) (same district, other offense type)
- [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.