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# Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obscenity-other-sex-offenses-sentences-eastern-district-of-tennessee/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:35:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:35:43.000Z
- Description: 100 people were sentenced in the Eastern District of Tennessee under the Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 100 pleaded guilty, and 98 (98%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months. 98 of the 100 were sentenced under the guideline fo
- 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 Tennessee, FY20](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) › Obscenity and Other Sex Offense: Eastern District of Tennessee

**In brief:** 100 people were sentenced in the Eastern District of Tennessee under the Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. All 100 pleaded guilty, and 98 (98%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months. 98 of the 100 were sentenced under the guideline for failure to register as a sex offender.

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 100 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/).

## A Registration Offense Category

The Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" category is a group of sex offense cases other than sexual abuse and child pornography. In this district, it was 2% of the 6,452 people sentenced over 10 fiscal years.

The most common primary guideline was §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender), with 98 people. §2G3.1 (Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter) applied to 2.

## Prison Terms

98 of the 100 (98%) received a prison term, and 1 (1%) received probation only. In all 94 districts, 95% of the 3,595 people in this category were sent to prison.

The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 29.5 months or more, and a quarter received 14 months or less. The all-districts median was also 18 months. The median for all offenses in the district was 70 months, which is higher.

## Straight Pleas Were Common

100 of 100 (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Only 32% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 68% were straight pleas with no agreement.

Straight pleas were therefore more common than plea agreements in this category. Guilty pleas were 99% for all districts in this category and 98% for all offenses in the district.

## Position Against the Guideline Range

Of 100 sentences with the information, 76 (76%) were within the guideline range. 12 (12%) were below the range at the government's request, and 8 (8%) were below it without a government request. 4 (4%) were above the range.

The all-districts share within the range was 54%, and the share for all offenses in the district was 48%. The share here is higher than both. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 100 people (1%).

## Criminal History

In criminal history terms, 2% were in category I, the lowest, and 15% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is no matching figure for courts-martial.

## Supervised Release and Fines

97 people (97%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 60 months. 1 person (1%) received supervised release for life. A fine was ordered for 1 (1%), and restitution for 0 (0%).

## Counts by Fiscal Year

Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 52 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 48\. Yearly counts run from 5 to 15 people, and yearly medians from 13.1 months to 27 months. The records do not show what caused these changes.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 15               | 21 months     | 100%           |
| 2017        | 14               | 24 months     | 100%           |
| 2018        | 13               | 15 months     | 100%           |
| 2019        | 10               | 17 months     | 100%           |
| 2020        | 11               | 18 months     | 100%           |
| 2021        | 10               | 27 months     | 100%           |
| 2022        | 7                | 27 months     | 7 of 7         |
| 2023        | 5                | 18 months     | 5 of 5         |
| 2024        | 10               | 18 months     | 100%           |
| 2025        | 5                | 13.1 months   | 5 of 5         |

## Limits of the Data

Only people convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, and the prison terms are those imposed rather than time served.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Tennessee East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" (100). 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](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 Tennessee, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Money Laundering Sentences in the Eastern District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-money-laundering-sentences-eastern-district-of-tennessee/) (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.