> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obscenity-other-sex-offenses-sentences-western-district-of-michigan/ - Published: 2026-11-04T11:15:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T11:15:28.000Z - Description: Of the 19 people in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" type in the Western District of Michigan, fiscal years 2016 to 2025, all 19 were sentenced under the same guideline, §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). All 19 pleaded guilty, and 74% of those pleas had n - 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 Western District of Michigan, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-western-district-of-michigan/) › Obscenity and Other Sex Offense: Western District of Michigan **In brief:** Of the 19 people in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" type in the Western District of Michigan, fiscal years 2016 to 2025, all 19 were sentenced under the same guideline, §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). All 19 pleaded guilty, and 74% of those pleas had no written agreement. The median prison term was 20 months. 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 19 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 Single Guideline for Every Case The Commission's offense types group cases by the main guideline used at sentencing. "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" is a broad label, but in this district all 19 cases used §2A3.5 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender). Despite the label, the numbers here describe one kind of case. These cases were less than 1% of the 3,034 people sentenced in the district. ## Plea Agreements Were Uncommon All 19 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 26% had a written plea agreement and 74% were straight pleas with no agreement. Across all districts, 99% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 19 people. ## Prison Terms All 19 people (100%) were sent to prison, compared with 95% across all districts. The median prison term was 20 months. A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 15.5 months or less. The national median for this offense type was 18 months, so the district's median was longer. The district's median for all offenses was 51 months. The figures are terms imposed by the court. The records do not report time actually served. ## Guideline Range 13 people (68%) were sentenced within the guideline range. For 5 people (26%), the sentence was below the range without a government request, and for 1 (5%) it was above. No sentence was below the range at the government's request. The within-range share for this type nationally was 54%, which is the same as the district's figure for all offenses. ## Supervised Release and Criminal History All 19 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 60 months. No fines or restitution were ordered. By criminal history, 5% were in the lowest category, category I, and 16% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Counts by Year and What Is Missing From fiscal year 2016 to 2019 there were 12 people, and from 2020 to 2025 there were 7\. In the yearly table, no year has more than 6 people. Median prison terms run from 12 months in 2019 to 30 months in 2021, and each year rests on few cases, so none shows a trend. The data cover only people who were convicted and sentenced, so charges that ended in acquittal or dismissal are absent. The records also do not explain why one person received a longer term than another, and they give no details about the underlying registration cases. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 6 | 17 months | 6 of 6 | | 2017 | 2 | 21 months | 2 of 2 | | 2018 | 3 | 18 months | 3 of 3 | | 2019 | 1 | 12 months | 1 of 1 | | 2020 | 1 | 27 months | 1 of 1 | | 2021 | 1 | 30 months | 1 of 1 | | 2022 | 4 | 25 months | 4 of 4 | | 2025 | 1 | 21 months | 1 of 1 | ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Michigan (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Michigan West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses" (19). 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](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 Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-western-district-of-michigan/) (overview) - [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-western-district-of-michigan/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-western-district-of-michigan/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-western-district-of-michigan/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Michigan, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-western-district-of-michigan/) (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.