Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025
All 31 people sentenced in the Southern District of Mississippi under the Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" type in fiscal years 2016 to 2024 had the same primary guideline: §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). All 31 pleaded guilty and all 31 received prison. The median prison
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In brief: All 31 people sentenced in the Southern District of Mississippi under the Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" type in fiscal years 2016 to 2024 had the same primary guideline: §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). All 31 pleaded guilty and all 31 received prison. The median prison term was 18 months, the same as for this offense type across all 94 districts.
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.
What the Offense Type Contains Here
The U.S. Sentencing Commission groups federal cases into offense types. One of them is "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses." In this district, the type consists entirely of one guideline, §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender), which was the primary guideline for all 31 people.
The records therefore describe failure-to-register sentences in this district, not obscenity cases. The type is the Commission's category, and its name does not describe every case in it.
The counts cover fiscal years 2016 to 2024. A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September.
Prison for Everyone Sentenced
All 31 people (100%) received a prison term, and none received probation only. Across all 94 districts, 95% of people in this offense type were sent to prison.
The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 9.5 months or less. The national median for this type was also 18 months, while the median for all offenses in the district was 48 months. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Supervised release was ordered for all 31 people (100%), with a median term of 60 months. A fine was ordered for 26 people (84%). Restitution was ordered for 0 people (0%).
Guilty Pleas Without Exception
All 31 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Across all 94 districts, the guilty plea rate for this type was 99%, and for all offenses in the district it was 97%.
Among the guilty pleas, 71% had a written plea agreement. The other 29% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
For 22 of the 31 people (71%), the sentence was within the guideline range. It was below the range without a government request for 7 people (23%). It was below the range at the government's request for 1 person (3%), and above the range for 1 person (3%).
The within-range share was higher than the 54% for this type across all 94 districts and about the same as the 69% for all offenses in the district. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 31 people (0%).
Criminal History
The Commission assigns each person to a criminal history category, from category I (lowest) to category VI (highest). In this group, 13% were in category I and 3% were in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure cannot be compared with military cases.
How Many People Each Year?
This offense type was less than 1% of the 3,361 people sentenced in the district over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 12 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 19 people.
The table lists each year. Each year has between 1 and 5 people, so the yearly medians, from 10 months in 2021 to 30 months in 2017, rest on very small groups and are not trends.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 13.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 1 | 30 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 4 | 16.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2019 | 3 | 21 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2020 | 4 | 12 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2021 | 3 | 10 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 5 | 21 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2023 | 4 | 13.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2024 | 3 | 24 months | 3 of 3 |
What the Records Do Not Cover
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and the data does not show how many failure-to-register cases were charged. It also cannot explain why a sentence fell where it did.
Keesler AFB, Mississippi, is a military installation in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court, and these numbers are federal only.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Mississippi (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Mississippi South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" (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.
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 Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, 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.