Federal Sexual Abuse Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025
From fiscal year 2016 to 2025, 32 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Sexual Abuse" offense type. All 32 received a prison term, and the median prison term was 223 months (18.6 years). The median for all 94 federal districts in this offense
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In brief: From fiscal year 2016 to 2025, 32 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Sexual Abuse" offense type. All 32 received a prison term, and the median prison term was 223 months (18.6 years). The median for all 94 federal districts in this offense type was 180 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 32 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.
Prison Terms in Sexual Abuse Cases in This District
Every one of the 32 people in this group was sent to prison. None received probation only. Among them, the median prison term was 223 months, which is 18.6 years.
A quarter of the group received 360 months or more, and a quarter received 120 months or less. The terms are the terms imposed by the court, not the time actually served.
For comparison, the 12,095 people in this offense type across all 94 federal districts had a median prison term of 180 months. The median prison term for all offenses in the Southern District of Alabama was 41 months.
What Offenses Make Up This Category?
"Sexual Abuse" is the Commission's own category, and it groups cases by the main sentencing guideline applied. It is not a single statute.
The most common primary guideline was §2G1.3 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor), used in 14 cases. Next was §2G2.1 (Sexually Exploiting a Minor by Production of Sexually Explicit Visual or Printed Material), used in 13 cases.
Only 4 cases fell under §2A3.1 (Criminal Sexual Abuse), and 1 fell under §2A3.3 (Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Ward or Attempt to Commit Such Acts).
Mandatory Minimums and Guideline Ranges
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 27 of the 32 people with that information recorded, which is 84%. Mandatory minimums set a floor that the court generally cannot go below.
Sentences were within the guideline range for 59% of the group (19 people). Another 25% (8 people) were below the range without a government request, and 6% (2 people) were below the range at the government's request. Sentences were above the range for 9% (3 people).
Across all 94 districts in this offense type, 41% of sentences were within the guideline range. In all offenses in this district, the figure was 56%.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Of the 32 people, 29 pleaded guilty (91%) and 3 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 211 months. After a trial it was 470 months.
The trial figure rests on only 3 people, so it shows what happened in those cases and should not be read as a pattern. Among the guilty pleas, 90% had a written plea agreement and 10% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Across all 94 districts in this offense type, 90% pleaded guilty. In all offenses in this district, 97% did.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
All 32 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 180 months, and 11 people (34%) received supervised release for life.
A fine was ordered for 2 people (6%), and restitution for 10 (31%). In terms of criminal history, 75% were in the lowest criminal history category and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Year-by-Year Counts Are Small
Sexual Abuse cases were 1% of the 2,994 people sentenced in this district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 15 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 17 people.
Each fiscal year had between 2 and 5 people, so the yearly median prison terms in the table move a great deal on very few cases. A federal fiscal year begins on October 1.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 97.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 4 | 162 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2018 | 2 | 191 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 5 | 360 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2020 | 4 | 300 months | 2 of 4 |
| 2021 | 2 | 355 months | 1 of 2 |
| 2022 | 2 | 352.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 2 | 165 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 3 | 120 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2025 | 4 | 285.5 months | 4 of 4 |
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 these numbers cannot show how many charged cases ended without a conviction.
The records also do not show the facts of any case or the reasons for any sentence. This post reports federal numbers on their own and does not compare them with court-martial results.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Alabama (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Alabama South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Sexual Abuse" (32). 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 Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, 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.