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# Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-other-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:33:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:33:23.000Z
- Description: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,025 people in the Eastern District of Virginia were sentenced under the Commission's offense type "Other", which was 20% of the district's 10,381 people. 1,682 (83%) received probation only, and 236 (12%) received a prison term with a median of 0.2 months. A fine was
- 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 Virginia, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-virginia/) › Other Offense: Eastern District of Virginia

**In brief:** In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,025 people in the Eastern District of Virginia were sentenced under the Commission's offense type "Other", which was 20% of the district's 10,381 people. 1,682 (83%) received probation only, and 236 (12%) received a prison term with a median of 0.2 months. A fine was ordered for 1,845 people (91%).

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 2,025 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/).

## Fines and Probation Were the Usual Result

A fine was ordered for 1,845 of the 2,025 people (91%). Restitution was ordered for 31 (2%).

1,682 people (83%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 236 (12%) received a prison term.

Among those 236, the median prison term was 0.2 months. A quarter received 0.5 months or more, and a quarter received 0.1 months or less. These terms are very short compared with the 46-month median for all offenses in this district.

## A Catch-All Category

"Other" is not one kind of offense. It is the Commission's label for cases that do not fall into its named offense types.

The most common primary guideline was §2X5.2 (Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)), with 36 people. §2D2.2 (Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge) applied to 15, §2A5.2 (Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant) to 9, and §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact) to 2.

These guidelines account for a small part of the 2,025 people. The sheet does not list the primary guideline for the rest.

## Comparison With All 94 Districts

For this offense type in all districts, 9,918 people were sentenced. 38% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 0.2 months.

In this district the share sent to prison is lower (12%), and the median is the same, 0.2 months. 98% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty across all districts, compared with 97% here.

## Guideline Range and Plea Agreements

98% of sentences (1,930) were within the guideline range, out of 1,962 with that information. Below the range at the government's request were less than 1% (14), below it without a government request less than 1% (16), and above it less than 1% (2).

For this offense type in all districts, 90% of sentences were within the range. For all offenses in this district, the share was 60%.

1,974 people pleaded guilty, and 51 were convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 3% had a written plea agreement and 82% were straight pleas with no agreement. The median prison term was 0.2 months after a plea and 0.2 months after a trial, with the trial figure based on 7 people. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 76 people with that information recorded (1%).

## Yearly Counts

1,145 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 880 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. The fiscal year runs October 1 to the next September.

Fiscal year 2016 had the most people, with 400\. The yearly median is 0.2 months or 0.3 months in every year, so the table shows little change in prison terms.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 400              | 0.2 months    | 96%            |
| 2017        | 251              | 0.2 months    | more than 99%  |
| 2018        | 279              | 0.2 months    | 97%            |
| 2019        | 215              | 0.2 months    | 99%            |
| 2020        | 156              | 0.3 months    | 97%            |
| 2021        | 177              | 0.3 months    | 97%            |
| 2022        | 163              | 0.3 months    | 97%            |
| 2023        | 119              | 0.3 months    | 98%            |
| 2024        | 124              | 0.2 months    | 98%            |
| 2025        | 141              | 0.2 months    | 97%            |

## Supervised Release, Criminal History, and Limits

75 people (4%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 12 months.

Criminal history category I, the lowest, applied to 86% of the people, and category VI, the highest, applied to less than 1%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

Fort Lee, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and Norfolk are military installations in this district's area, and courts-martial there are tried in military courts, not in this federal court. The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, and it says nothing about the conduct in any case.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Virginia East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Other" (2,025). 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 Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-eastern-district-of-virginia/) (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.