Federal Sexual Abuse Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, FY2016–2025
All 73 people sentenced for sexual abuse offenses in the Western District of Wisconsin in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 180 months (15 years), the same as for all 94 districts. A mandatory minimum applied to 55 of the 73 (75%), and 10 people were convicted after a
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, FY20 › Sexual Abuse: Western District of Wisconsin
In brief: All 73 people sentenced for sexual abuse offenses in the Western District of Wisconsin in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 180 months (15 years), the same as for all 94 districts. A mandatory minimum applied to 55 of the 73 (75%), and 10 people were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 73 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.
Supervised Release Often Lasted Years or for Life
All 73 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median term was 240 months, and 11 people (15%) received supervised release for life.
Restitution was ordered for 28 people (38%), and no fine was ordered. In criminal history, 53% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 8% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Prison Terms
The median prison term was 180 months (15 years), and none of the 73 people received probation only. A quarter received 240 months or more, and a quarter received 120 months or less.
For all 94 districts, the median in this offense type was also 180 months. For all offenses in the Western District of Wisconsin, it was 59.5 months, so sentences here were much longer than the district's overall median. The terms are those imposed, not time served.
Guidelines Used
The U.S. Sentencing Commission assigns the offense type "Sexual Abuse" from the main guideline used at sentencing. In this district, the guideline was often one about minors.
§2G2.1 (Sexually Exploiting a Minor by Production of Sexually Explicit Visual or Printed Material) was the primary guideline for 54 people, and §2G1.3 (Promoting a Commercial Sex Act or Prohibited Sexual Conduct with a Minor) for 13. §2A3.1 (Criminal Sexual Abuse) applied to 5 people, and §2G1.1 to 1.
These cases were 5% of the 1,403 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Trial Convictions and Guilty Pleas
63 of 73 people (86%) pleaded guilty, and 10 were convicted after a trial. The national share who pleaded guilty was 90%, and the district's share for all offenses was 97%.
The median prison term was 150 months after a guilty plea and 240 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 10 people. Among the guilty pleas, 98% had a written plea agreement and 2% were straight pleas.
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 55 of the 73 people with that information recorded (75%).
Only 9 sentences (12%) were within the guideline range. 34 (47%) were below the range without a government request, 29 (40%) were below it at the government's request, and 1 (1%) was above it. Nationally, 41% of sentences in this offense type were within the range, and for all offenses in this district it was 32%.
Yearly Counts
The district sentenced 24 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 49 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. Fiscal year 2022 had the most, with 16 people.
Yearly medians run from 147 months to 240 months. Counts of 4 to 16 people do not show a trend, and the table lists each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | 150 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 8 | 147 months | 7 of 8 |
| 2018 | 4 | 240 months | 2 of 4 |
| 2019 | 8 | 157.5 months | 5 of 8 |
| 2020 | 6 | 162 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2021 | 7 | 210 months | 5 of 7 |
| 2022 | 16 | 195 months | 88% |
| 2023 | 8 | 165 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2024 | 5 | 180 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2025 | 7 | 168 months | 7 of 7 |
What the Records Cannot Say
Only convicted and sentenced people are in the Commission's data. Acquittals and dismissals are not.
The records do not describe the conduct in any case, and they cannot show why sentences within this group differ from one another.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Wisconsin (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Wisconsin West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Sexual Abuse" (73). 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 Western District of Wisconsin, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Wisconsin, 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.