Federal Other Offense Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025
In the District of South Carolina, 15 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type "Other." 10 of the 15 (67%) received a prison term, with a median of 16.5 months, and 4 (27%) received probation only. All 15 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In the District of South Carolina, 15 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type "Other." 10 of the 15 (67%) received a prison term, with a median of 16.5 months, and 4 (27%) received probation only. 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.
A Catch-All Category With a Small Count
"Other" is the Commission's label for cases that do not fit its named offense types. It is a grouping of unrelated guidelines, so the cases in it do not describe one kind of conduct.
15 people in this district fall in the category, which is less than 1% of the 6,874 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The fiscal year runs from October 1 through the end of September.
The most common primary guideline was §2X5.2 (Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)), with 5 people. Next came §2A5.2 (Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant) with 4, §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact) with 2, and §2D2.2 (Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge) with 1.
Sentences Within the Guideline Range More Often Than the District Overall
For 14 people, the records show where the sentence fell against the guideline range. 79% (11 people) were within the range, 7% (1 person) were below it without a government request, and 14% (2 people) were above it. None was below the range at the government's request.
For all offenses in the district, 47% of sentences were within the range. The share for this category was higher than that.
For the "Other" category across all 94 districts, 90% were within the range. The share in this district was lower than that national figure.
Prison, Probation, and Supervised Release
The 10 people sent to prison had a median prison term of 16.5 months. A quarter received 33 months or more, and a quarter received 1.9 months or less.
For all 94 districts, 38% of people in this category were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 0.2 months. Both figures were lower than the figures for this district, where 67% were sent to prison.
8 people (53%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum applied to 1 of the 14 people with that information recorded (7%).
No fine was ordered. Restitution was ordered for 4 people (27%).
Pleas and Criminal History
All 15 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. 53% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 47% were straight pleas with no agreement.
57% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 7% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Fiscal Year
11 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 4 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. In the table, 7 of the 15 people fall in fiscal year 2016.
Years with 1 or 2 people are small groups, and the yearly medians should not be read as a trend. Fiscal years with no row had no people in this category.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 7 | 11 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2018 | 2 | 14.4 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 0 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 2 | 36 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 1 | 12 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 37.2 months | 1 of 1 |
What the Records Cannot Show
The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. Because the category mixes different guidelines, these numbers cannot show how any one offense was punished.
This post reports federal numbers on their own. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of South Carolina (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "South Carolina") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Other" (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.
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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of South Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of South Carolina, 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.