Federal Sexual Abuse Sentences in the Eastern District of California, FY2016–2025
125 people were sentenced for sexual abuse offenses in the Eastern District of California in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 125 received a prison term. The median was 192 months (16 years), compared with 180 months across all 94 federal districts.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of California, FY2 › Sexual Abuse: Eastern District of California
In brief: 125 people were sentenced for sexual abuse offenses in the Eastern District of California in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 125 received a prison term. The median was 192 months (16 years), compared with 180 months across all 94 federal districts.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 125 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.
Median Prison Term of 192 Months
Every person in this group (125 of 125, or 100%) was sent to prison. The median prison term was 192 months. A quarter received 292 months or more, and a quarter received 135 months or less. 4 people received a life sentence.
In all districts, the offense type "Sexual Abuse" had 12,095 people and a median of 180 months. The median here was higher. For all offenses in this district, the median was 48 months. These cases were 3% of the 4,546 people sentenced in the district.
Guidelines Behind the Cases
Sexual abuse is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's category, and it holds cases under several guidelines. The most common were §2G2.1 (Sexually Exploiting a Minor by Production of Sexually Explicit Visual or Printed Material) with 67 people and §2G1.3 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor) with 46.
§2A3.4 (Abusive Sexual Contact or Attempt to Commit Abusive Sexual Contact) and §2A3.1 (Criminal Sexual Abuse) had 5 people each.
A Mandatory Minimum for 86%
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 107 of the 125 people with that information recorded (86%). The records do not show which statute set the minimum in each case.
All 125 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 180 months, and 31 people (25%) received supervised release for life.
Guideline Range Position
58% of sentences (72 people) were within the guideline range. 20% (25 people) were below the range without a government request, 18% (23 people) were below it at the government's request, and 4% (5 people) were above it.
For all 94 districts, sexual abuse sentences were within the range 41% of the time. In this district, the figure for all offenses was 40%. Within-range sentences were more common here than in either of those comparison groups.
Pleas and Trials
107 of 125 people (86%) pleaded guilty, and 18 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 188 months after a guilty plea and 243.5 months after a trial, based on 18 people. Across all districts, 90% pleaded guilty.
93% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 7% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
A fine was ordered for 4 people (3%), and restitution for 55 (44%).
65% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 4% were in the highest (VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Yearly Counts
50 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 75 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The yearly count was 6 in 2021 and 19 in 2024.
The yearly median was 148 months in 2023 and 246 months in 2025. Each year has few people, and the share who pleaded guilty varies from 64% to 94%, so the table does not show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 12 | 187.5 months | 67% |
| 2017 | 16 | 157.5 months | 94% |
| 2018 | 10 | 157.5 months | 90% |
| 2019 | 12 | 211 months | 92% |
| 2020 | 9 | 168 months | 7 of 9 |
| 2021 | 6 | 211 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2022 | 12 | 225.5 months | 83% |
| 2023 | 11 | 148 months | 64% |
| 2024 | 19 | 210 months | 89% |
| 2025 | 18 | 246 months | 94% |
What the Records Cannot Show
Only convictions that led to a sentence are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are outside the dataset.
A prison term in this data is the term ordered at sentencing rather than time served.
This page does not tie any of these cases to a military installation. Beale AFB, Edwards AFB, and Travis AFB lie in the district, and their courts-martial go through military courts.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of California (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "California East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Sexual Abuse" (125). 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 Eastern District of California, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of California, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of California, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of California, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of California, 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.