Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025
The Commission's offense type "Other" includes 46 people sentenced in the Southern District of Florida, with records through fiscal year 2024. 38 (83%) received a prison term, and the median was 2 months. Nationally, 38% of people in this offense type were sent to prison, with a median of 0.2 months
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY201 › Other Offense: Southern District of Florida
In brief: The Commission's offense type "Other" includes 46 people sentenced in the Southern District of Florida, with records through fiscal year 2024. 38 (83%) received a prison term, and the median was 2 months. Nationally, 38% of people in this offense type were sent to prison, with a median of 0.2 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 46 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 "Other" Means Here
"Other" is a catch-all category used by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. It groups cases that do not fit its named offense types, so the cases are not alike in the way that one named offense type is.
The most common primary guideline was §2A5.2 (Interference with Flight Crew Member or Flight Attendant), with 13 people. 5 people were sentenced under §2X5.2 (Class A Misdemeanors (Not Covered by Another Specific Offense Guideline)), and 4 under §2X7.2 (Submersible and Semi-Submersible Vessels). 1 person was sentenced under §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact).
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 46 people, 38 (83%) received a prison term, and 7 (15%) received probation only. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 2 months.
A quarter received 21.8 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. Prison terms are terms imposed, not time served.
Across all 94 districts, the Commission counted 9,918 people in this offense type. 38% were sent to prison, and the median was 0.2 months. The district's prison share was higher than the national share.
Guilty Pleas
A total of 44 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. Nationally, 98% pleaded guilty.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 2 months. After a trial it was 24 months, based on 1 person sent to prison. Among guilty pleas, 61% had a written plea agreement, and 34% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Position Against the Guideline Range
Guideline information was recorded for only 28 of the 46 people. 17 of them (61%) were sentenced within the range, and 7 (25%) were above it. 1 person (4%) was below the range at the government's request, and 3 (11%) were below it without that request.
Nationally, 90% of sentences in this offense type were within the range. For all offenses in this district, the share was 55%. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 42 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 30 people (65%), and the median term was 24 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (7%), and restitution for 15 (33%).
In criminal history, 79% were in the lowest category, category I, and 4% were in the highest, VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Small Counts by Year
A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September. The yearly count ranged from 1 person in fiscal year 2022 to 16 people in fiscal year 2016. The yearly median prison term ranged from 0 months to 46 months.
Counts this small do not show a trend. The table has no entries for fiscal years 2021 and 2025.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 16 | 0 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 3 | 0 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2018 | 6 | 2 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2019 | 7 | 2.6 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2020 | 5 | 12 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2022 | 1 | 30 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 2 | 46 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 6 | 15 months | 4 of 6 |
Limits of This Category
These cases were less than 1% of the 17,081 people sentenced in the district, where the median prison term for all offenses was 32 months. Because the category mixes unrelated offenses, its totals say little about any one kind of case. Only people convicted and sentenced are counted. Courts-martial are tried in military courts and are not part of this federal data.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Florida (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Florida South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Other" (46). 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 Florida, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Florida, 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.