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# Federal Stalking and Harassment Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-stalking-harassing-sentences-eastern-district-of-kentucky/
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:04:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T11:04:24.000Z
- Description: Every one of the 24 people sentenced for stalking or harassing in the Eastern District of Kentucky, fiscal years 2016 to 2025, pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months, which is also the median for the offense type across all 94 federal districts.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY201](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) › Stalking and Harassment: Eastern District of Kentucky

**In brief:** Every one of the 24 people sentenced for stalking or harassing in the Eastern District of Kentucky, fiscal years 2016 to 2025, pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 24 months, which is also the median for the offense type across all 94 federal districts.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 24 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Pleas in Every Case

The Sentencing Commission's "Stalking/Harassing" offense type has 24 people in this district for fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 24 of 24 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 went to trial.

96% of the people who pleaded guilty had a written plea agreement, and 4% entered a straight plea. The guilty plea rate for the category in all districts was 92%, and for every offense in this district it was 93%.

## Matching Medians

23 people (96%) were sent to prison, and 1 (4%) received probation only. The district's median prison term was 24 months (2 years), the same as the all-district median for this category, where 2,263 people were sentenced and 89% were sent to prison.

Within the district, the middle range of terms runs from 12 months or less for a quarter of the people to 47 months or more for another quarter. The figures are the terms imposed by the court, and the time served can differ.

## Sentences and the Guideline Range

58% of the sentences (14 people) were within the advisory range. 33% (8) were below it without a government request, and 8% (2) were below it at the government's request. None were above it.

Nationally for the category, 47% were within the range. Across all offenses in this district, 54% were. 1 of the 24 people (4%) had a mandatory minimum prison term.

## The Guidelines Behind the Category

Most cases were sentenced under §2A6.1 (Threatening or Harassing Communications), which was the primary guideline for 17 people. The other main guideline was §2A6.2 (Stalking or Domestic Violence), for 7.

Together these cases were less than 1% of the 4,374 people sentenced in the district across the same years.

## Supervision, Money Orders, and Criminal History

23 people (96%) were ordered to serve supervised release, and the median term was 36 months. 3 (13%) were ordered to pay a fine, and 4 (17%) to pay restitution.

For criminal history, 58% were in Category I, the lowest, and 17% were in Category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so no military comparison is made.

## Yearly Counts

9 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 15 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. No year has more than 5 people, and several years have only 1 person.

Medians range from 6.1 months in 2023 to 63 months in 2017\. Each of those years has 1 person, so the number is one sentence and does not describe a pattern.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 1                | 17.3 months   | 1 of 1         |
| 2017        | 1                | 63 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2018        | 5                | 27 months     | 5 of 5         |
| 2019        | 2                | 35 months     | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 5                | 27 months     | 5 of 5         |
| 2021        | 2                | 26.5 months   | 2 of 2         |
| 2022        | 4                | 24 months     | 4 of 4         |
| 2023        | 1                | 6.1 months    | 1 of 1         |
| 2024        | 1                | 22 months     | 1 of 1         |
| 2025        | 2                | 16.5 months   | 2 of 2         |

## Limits of the Data

The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so charges that ended in acquittal or dismissal are absent. The records do not describe the conduct in any case.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Kentucky East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Stalking/Harassing" (24). 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of Kentucky, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-eastern-district-of-kentucky/) (same district, other offense type)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.