Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025
In the Eastern District of Louisiana, 14 of the 15 people sentenced for obscenity and other sex offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2023 were sentenced under one guideline, failure to register as a sex offender. A total of 13 (87%) received a prison term, with a median of 21 months. All 15 pleaded guil
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY20 › Obscenity and Other Sex Offense: Eastern District of Louisiana
In brief: In the Eastern District of Louisiana, 14 of the 15 people sentenced for obscenity and other sex offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2023 were sentenced under one guideline, failure to register as a sex offender. A total of 13 (87%) received a prison term, with a median of 21 months. All 15 pleaded guilty.
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 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.
Mostly Failure-to-Register Cases
"Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" is a U.S. Sentencing Commission offense type. The Commission assigns each case to a type by the main guideline used at sentencing.
In this district, 14 of the 15 cases used §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). The other case used §2G3.1 (Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter).
The numbers below therefore describe mainly registration cases. The totals say little about obscenity cases, which make up 1 case in this group.
Prison Terms
Of the 15 people, 13 (87%) received a prison term and 2 (13%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term among those sent to prison was 21 months. A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 17.1 months or less.
For all 94 federal districts, 3,595 people were sentenced in this offense type, 95% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 18 months. In this district the median was higher than the national figure, and the share sent to prison was lower. The district's median for all offenses was 60 months.
Pleas and Plea Agreements
All 15 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Nationally for this offense type, 99% pleaded guilty.
Among the guilty pleas, 20% had a written plea agreement and 80% were straight pleas with no agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 15 people with that information recorded.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
A sentence within the guideline range was given to 7 people (47%). Sentences below the range without a government request went to 6 (40%), and 1 (7%) was below the range at the government's request. One sentence (7%) was above the range.
Across all districts for this offense type, 54% of sentences were within the range. For all offenses in the Eastern District of Louisiana, 56% were within the range.
Supervised Release and Other Terms
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 12 people (80%), with a median term of 48 months. No fine was ordered (0%), and no restitution was ordered (0%).
The sheet reports 0% in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 0% in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Year and Limits of the Data
These cases were less than 1% of the 2,953 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The data for this offense type run through fiscal year 2023, and 6 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 9 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025.
The table lists each year with cases. The most in a single year was 4, so the yearly medians are small-group figures and are not trends.
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The records do not show why sentences fell where they did.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 | 23.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2018 | 1 | 12 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2019 | 3 | 25.5 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2020 | 2 | 16.9 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2021 | 2 | 22.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | 33 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 4 | 24 months | 4 of 4 |
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 "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" (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 (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 Louisiana, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Louisiana, 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.