Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Texas, FY2016–2025
All 32 people sentenced for obscenity or other sex offenses in the Eastern District of Texas in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term, and all 32 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months. Across all 94 federal districts, the median for this offense type was 18 months.
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In brief: All 32 people sentenced for obscenity or other sex offenses in the Eastern District of Texas in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term, and all 32 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months. Across all 94 federal districts, the median for this offense type was 18 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 32 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.
Almost All Cases Were Failure to Register
The U.S. Sentencing Commission groups cases into offense types. This post covers the type named "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" in the Eastern District of Texas. The records list a primary guideline for each person. The most common was §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender), with 28 of the 32 people. Another 4 people were sentenced under §2G3.1 (Importing, Mailing, or Transporting Obscene Matter).
The group is small. It is less than 1% of the 7,998 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Prison Terms and Supervised Release
The median prison term was 24 months (2 years). A quarter of the group received 36 months or more, and a quarter received 16 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not time served.
All 32 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 60 months. A fine was ordered for 1 person (3%), and no one was ordered to pay restitution. No mandatory minimum prison term was recorded for any of the 32.
Compared With All Districts and All Offenses
For this offense type in all 94 federal districts, the Commission counted 3,595 people. In that group, 95% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, and 99% pleaded guilty. The Eastern District of Texas median of 24 months is higher.
For all offenses in the Eastern District of Texas, the median prison term was 64.5 months and 98% pleaded guilty. The median for this offense type is lower than the district's median for all offenses.
Position Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range calculated under the Commission's rules. Of the 32 people, 23 (72%) were sentenced within it. 5 (16%) were sentenced below it at the government's request, and 4 (13%) were sentenced above it. No one was sentenced below the range without a government request.
The within-range share was 72% here and 54% across all districts for this offense type. For all offenses in this district, it was 64%.
Plea Agreements and Criminal History
Among the guilty pleas, 94% had a written plea agreement and 6% were straight pleas with no agreement. Only 6% of the group was in the lowest criminal history category, and 19% was in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Fiscal Year Counts
The district sentenced 19 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 13 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. The table lists only the years that have cases, and each year has between 1 and 6 people. Medians from groups this small can change with a single case, so the table does not show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | 27 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2017 | 5 | 15 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2018 | 6 | 18.5 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2019 | 3 | 24 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2020 | 3 | 15 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 1 | 30 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 4 | 39 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2024 | 3 | 40 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2025 | 2 | 30 months | 2 of 2 |
What the Records Cannot Show
The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it. The records do not give the reasons for any sentence, and they do not describe the facts of individual cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Texas East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" (32). 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 Texas, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Texas, 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.