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# Federal Individual Rights Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-individual-rights-sentences-eastern-district-of-louisiana/
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:14:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T11:14:37.000Z
- Description: The Eastern District of Louisiana sentenced 15 people for individual rights offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of these, 8 (53%) received a prison term, with a median of 52.5 months (4.4 years), and 7 (47%) received probation only. All 15 pleaded guilty.
- 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 Eastern District of Louisiana, FY20](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) › Individual Rights Offense: Eastern District of Louisiana

**In brief:** The Eastern District of Louisiana sentenced 15 people for individual rights offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Of these, 8 (53%) received a prison term, with a median of 52.5 months (4.4 years), and 7 (47%) received probation only. All 15 pleaded guilty.

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 15 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/).

## Prison Terms for Individual Rights Offenses

Among the 8 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 52.5 months (4.4 years). A quarter received 87 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.

The spread between those figures is wide, and the group is small. A median based on 8 people can change with one case.

Nationally, 855 people were sentenced in this offense type across all 94 federal districts, and the median prison term was 30 months. For all offenses in the Eastern District of Louisiana, the median prison term was 60 months.

## Prison or Probation?

The 15 people split almost evenly. A total of 8 (53%) received a prison term, and 7 (47%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.

In all 94 districts, 68% of people sentenced for individual rights offenses were sent to prison. The share in this district was lower than that national share.

Supervised release after prison was ordered for 8 people (53%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 2 (13%), and restitution for 5 (33%).

## What Counts as an Individual Rights Offense?

"Individual Rights" is one of the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense types. The Commission assigns each case to a type using the main guideline applied at sentencing, so the category is not a single statute.

The most common primary guidelines were §2H2.1 (Obstructing an Election or Registration) with 5 cases and §2H3.3 (Obstructing Correspondence) with 4\. Both §2H4.1 (Peonage, Involuntary Servitude, and Slave Trade) and §2H1.1 (Offenses Involving Individual Rights) were used in 3 cases.

These guidelines cover quite different conduct, so the totals for the category do not describe one kind of case.

## Pleas and Guideline Range

All 15 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. For all offenses in the district, 96% pleaded guilty, and across all districts for this offense type the figure was 80%.

Among the guilty pleas, 60% had a written plea agreement and 40% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 15 people with that information recorded.

A sentence within the guideline range was given to 8 people (53%). Sentences below the range at the government's request went to 4 (27%), and 3 (20%) were below the range without a government request. No sentence was above the range. For all districts in this offense type, 38% of sentences were within the range.

## Counts by Year

These cases were less than 1% of the 2,953 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 2 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 13\. The table shows the years with cases. Each row has between 1 and 6 people, so the yearly medians should not be read as trends.

The median in fiscal year 2020 was 192 months for 2 people, and in fiscal year 2023 it was 12 months for 6 people. Rows marked n/a have no median prison term to report.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 2                | 192 months    | 2 of 2         |
| 2021        | 2                | 58.5 months   | 2 of 2         |
| 2022        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2023        | 6                | 12 months     | 6 of 6         |
| 2025        | 1                | n/a           | 1 of 1         |

## Criminal History and What Is Missing

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

The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. The records also do not show why a case ended in probation rather than prison, and the prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Louisiana East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Individual Rights" (15). 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 Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-eastern-district-of-louisiana/) (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.