Federal Stalking and Harassment Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025
In fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 16 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Stalking/Harassing" offense type. Of them, 15 (94%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 18 months. The median for this offense type in all 94 federal district
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY201 › Stalking and Harassment: Southern District of Alabama
In brief: In fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 16 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Alabama in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Stalking/Harassing" offense type. Of them, 15 (94%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 18 months. The median for this offense type in all 94 federal districts was 24 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 16 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.
Threatening Communications Make Up Nearly All Cases
The "Stalking/Harassing" category is the Commission's grouping by main sentencing guideline. In this district, 15 of the 16 cases fell under §2A6.1 (Threatening or Harassing Communications).
The remaining case fell under §2A6.2 (Stalking or Domestic Violence). The numbers below therefore mostly describe threatening or harassing communications cases.
Prison Terms and How They Were Distributed
One person (6%) received probation only. The other 15 received a prison term, and the median was 18 months. A quarter received 25 months or more, and a quarter received 8.5 months or less.
In all 94 districts, 2,263 people were sentenced in this offense type, and 89% were sent to prison. All offenses in the Southern District of Alabama had a median prison term of 41 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to anyone in this group.
2 Trials Among 16 Cases
A total of 14 of the 16 people (88%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months. After a trial it was 19 months, based on 2 people.
The 2 medians are close, but 2 trial cases say little about trials in general. Among the guilty pleas, 86% had a written plea agreement and 14% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Across all 94 districts, 92% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
Sentences were within the guideline range for 56% of the group (9 people). Another 19% (3 people) were below the range at the government's request, and 19% (3 people) were below it without a request. One person (6%) was above the range.
Within-range sentences were more common here than the 47% for this offense type in all 94 districts. They were about the same as the 56% for all offenses in this district.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
After prison, 15 people (94%) were ordered to serve supervised release, and the median term was 36 months. Restitution was ordered for 1 person (6%) and no fines were ordered.
In criminal history, 44% were in the lowest category and 0% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Yearly Counts Are Too Small to Compare
These cases were less than 1% of the 2,994 people sentenced in this district. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 5 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 11 people. The data for this offense type begins in fiscal year 2017.
Fiscal year 2024 had the most people, with 5, and other years had between 1 and 3. One year has no median prison term listed, so the table records small counts and does not show a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 | 18 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 2 | 10.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 36 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2020 | 2 | 22.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 5 | 18 months | 4 of 5 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5 months | 2 of 3 |
What the Records Do Not Show
This data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, so charges that ended in acquittal or dismissal do not appear. The prison terms listed were imposed by the court and may differ from time served.
Nothing here describes what happened in any case or why a sentence was chosen. The post stands on federal numbers alone.
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 "Stalking/Harassing" (16). 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 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.