Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Middle District of Georgia, FY2016–2025
In the Middle District of Georgia, 609 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 for offenses the U.S. Sentencing Commission labels "Other." Only 41 of them (7%) received a prison term, and the other 564 (93%) received probation only. Across all 94 federal districts, 38% of people in this o
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In brief: In the Middle District of Georgia, 609 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 for offenses the U.S. Sentencing Commission labels "Other." Only 41 of them (7%) received a prison term, and the other 564 (93%) received probation only. Across all 94 federal districts, 38% of people in this offense type were sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 609 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.
Most Sentences in This Category Were Probation Only
The central fact for this district is how seldom prison was ordered. Of the 609 people sentenced, 41 (7%) received a prison term. The other 564 (93%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among the 41 who were sent to prison, the median prison term was 1 months. A quarter received 3 months or more, and a quarter received 0.3 months or less. Prison terms here are the terms imposed, not the time actually served.
What the "Other" Offense Type Means
"Other" is one of the Commission's offense categories. It collects cases that do not fit the named categories such as drugs, firearms, or fraud. The category is the Commission's grouping, not a single crime.
The most common primary guideline was §2X5.2 (Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)), with 314 people. The next most common was §2D2.2 (Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge), with 10 people.
These cases were 15% of the 4,094 people sentenced in the Middle District of Georgia over the same years. The records here do not show the specific facts of any case.
How This District Compares With All Districts
Across all 94 federal districts, 9,918 people were sentenced in the "Other" category. In that national group, 38% were sent to prison and the median prison term was 0.2 months. Guilty pleas were 98%, and 90% of sentences were within the guideline range.
In this district, the share sent to prison was lower than the national share for the category. Guilty pleas were also 98%.
All offenses together in the Middle District of Georgia show a different pattern: a median prison term of 51 months and guilty pleas of 97%. Sentences were within the guideline range 66% of the time. Prison terms in the "Other" category were much shorter than for the district overall.
Guilty Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements
Of the 609 people, 596 (98%) pleaded guilty, and 13 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 1 months after a guilty plea and 1 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on only 3 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it is a very small base.
Among the guilty pleas, 6% had a written plea agreement and 93% were straight pleas with no agreement. That is a much lower share of written agreements than in many other offense types.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
Information on the guideline range was available for 523 people. Of those, 98% (513) were sentenced within the range. Another 1% (6) were below the range at the government's request, and less than 1% (4) were below the range without a government request. None were above the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 85 people with that information recorded. Within the range was also the usual result nationally, but the national share was 90%, which is lower than here.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Only 13 people (2%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 12 months. A fine was ordered for 530 (87%), and restitution for 13 (2%).
In criminal history, 91% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 1% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military counterpart.
Changes by Fiscal Year
The district sentenced 288 people in this category in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 321 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends at the end of the following September. The table lists each year.
Yearly medians moved between 0.2 months and 4.5 months. Because only 41 people received prison terms across all the years, each year's median rests on a handful of cases and should not be read as a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 75 | 4.5 months | 99% |
| 2017 | 69 | 0.7 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 77 | 2 months | 99% |
| 2019 | 67 | 1.1 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 65 | 0.3 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 56 | 3 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 46 | 0.5 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 46 | 4.5 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 46 | 1.2 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 62 | 0.2 months | 95% |
What These Records Cannot Show
The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so the numbers say nothing about how many cases ended without a conviction.
The data does not describe the facts of individual cases or the reasons for any sentence. Fort Benning, Moody AFB, and Robins AFB are in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court, and these figures do not describe them.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Middle District of Georgia (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Georgia Mid") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Other" (609). 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 Middle District of Georgia, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Middle District of Georgia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Middle District of Georgia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Middle District of Georgia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Middle District of Georgia, 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.