Federal Kidnapping Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025
All 31 people sentenced for kidnapping offenses in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 228 months (19 years), compared with 155 months in all 94 federal districts. 5 people received a life sentence.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, F › Kidnapping: Eastern District of Pennsylvania
In brief: All 31 people sentenced for kidnapping offenses in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 228 months (19 years), compared with 155 months in all 94 federal districts. 5 people received a life sentence.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 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 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.
Length of Prison Terms for Kidnapping
The district sentenced 31 people for kidnapping offenses, and all 31 (100%) were sent to prison. The median prison term was 228 months, or 19 years. 5 people received a life sentence.
The lowest quarter of terms were 122.5 months or less, and the highest quarter were 467 months or more. In all districts, 1,124 people were sentenced for kidnapping and the median was 155 months. For all offenses in this district, the median was 42 months.
How Many Pleaded Guilty?
23 people (74%) pleaded guilty, and 8 were convicted after a trial. In all districts, 84% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty. Across all offenses in this district, 94% did.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 144 months. After a trial it was 470 months, based on 8 people. Of the guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement and 4% were straight pleas with no agreement.
These are separate sets of cases. The records do not show whether going to trial changed the length of any sentence.
Mandatory Minimums and Guideline Ranges
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 20 of the 31 people (65%). The law sets that floor, and a judge generally cannot go below it.
The guideline range is the sentence range calculated under the Sentencing Guidelines. 42% of sentences (13) were within it, 45% (14) were below it at the government's request, and 13% (4) were below it without a government request. None was above the range.
Across all districts, 33% of kidnapping sentences were within it. For all offenses in this district, 34% were.
One Guideline Covers Every Case
"Kidnapping" is an offense type used by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, assigned from each case's primary guideline. All 31 cases used §2A4.1 (Kidnapping, Abduction, Unlawful Restraint).
Supervision, Restitution, and Criminal History
30 people (97%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 60 months. Restitution was ordered for 20 (65%), and a fine for 4 (13%).
26% were in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 19% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 20 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 11. The table shows 10 people in 2019 and 1 in each of 2020, 2022, and 2024.
Yearly medians range from 36 months to 389.5 months. These counts are too small to show a trend, and the records cannot show why they differ.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | 365 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2017 | 2 | 135.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2018 | 3 | 324 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2019 | 10 | 389.5 months | 40% |
| 2020 | 1 | 36 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 1 | 262 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 5 | 56.1 months | 3 of 5 |
| 2024 | 1 | 228 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 125 months | 3 of 3 |
What the Data Cannot Show
Kidnapping cases were less than 1% of the 5,462 people sentenced in the district. The data lists only people who were convicted and sentenced, so charges that ended in dismissal or acquittal are missing. The prison terms shown were imposed at sentencing and are not time served.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Penn. East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Kidnapping" (31). 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.
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)
- Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.