18 U.S.C. 1153, Offenses committed within Indian country: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Federal courts closed 444 cases under 18 U.S.C. 1153 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 410 of those defendants (92%) were convicted. Most convictions came from guilty pleas: 392 defendants (88%) pleaded guilty, while 23 (5%) went to trial and 5 of those trials ended in an acquittal (22%). The median
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In brief: Federal courts closed 444 cases under 18 U.S.C. 1153 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 410 of those defendants (92%) were convicted. Most convictions came from guilty pleas: 392 defendants (88%) pleaded guilty, while 23 (5%) went to trial and 5 of those trials ended in an acquittal (22%). The median prison term on this charge was 36 months (3 years).
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 444 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced 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.
Felony and Misdemeanor Charges
Title 18, section 1153 of the U.S. Code is headed "Offenses committed within Indian country". The Federal Judicial Center counts each defendant under the most serious charge at the end of the case, and 444 defendants were counted under this section.
Felonies made up 425 of the charges (96%). Class A misdemeanors made up 19 (4%). No petty offenses were recorded.
The prison numbers below do not separate the 2 levels of charge. The median includes terms for both felony and misdemeanor convictions.
Prison Terms
Of the 410 convicted, 371 (90%) were sentenced to a prison term on this charge. The median term was 36 months among those with a term of 1 month or more. Life terms went to 3 defendants.
Defendants with a conviction but no prison term on this charge do not enter the median.
Pleas, Dismissals, and Trials
The records show 392 guilty pleas, 29 dismissals (7%), and 23 trials. A dismissal in these records includes charges the government dropped, for example after a guilty plea in a separate case.
Juries decided 21 trials, and 5 of them ended in an acquittal (24%). The 2 bench trials, decided by a judge, both ended in a conviction.
The acquittal rate of 22% covers only the 23 trials. It says nothing about the much larger group that pleaded guilty.
How the Counts Changed by Fiscal Year
Case counts ranged from 24 in fiscal year 2018 to 74 in fiscal year 2024. Fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021 had no trials at all.
Fiscal years 2019 and 2020 had the lowest guilty plea rates in the table, 74% and 71%, and the highest dismissal rates, 14% and 17%. In 2024, 7 cases went to trial and none ended in an acquittal.
Yearly trial counts were 7 or fewer, so single-year acquittal figures rest on very few cases.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 46 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 36 | 94% | 6% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 24 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 35 | 74% | 14% | 4 | 1 (1 of 4) |
| 2020 | 35 | 71% | 17% | 4 | 2 (2 of 4) |
| 2021 | 40 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 52 | 88% | 6% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| 2023 | 56 | 89% | 7% | 2 | 1 (1 of 2) |
| 2024 | 74 | 86% | 4% | 7 | 0 (0 of 7) |
| 2025 | 46 | 91% | 2% | 3 | 1 (1 of 3) |
Results by Type of Counsel
Federal public or community defenders represented 254 defendants (57%). CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 179 (40%). Retained private counsel represented 10 (2%).
Public defender cases had a 91% guilty plea rate and a 6% dismissal rate. CJA panel cases had 84% and 8%. All 10 retained counsel cases ended in a guilty plea.
CJA panel cases had 15 trials, with 4 acquittals (27%). Public defender cases had 8 trials, with 1 acquittal.
Counsel type is recorded at the end of the case, and the groups face different charges and circumstances. The numbers describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 254 | 91% | 6% | 8 | 1 (1 of 8) |
| CJA panel attorney | 179 | 84% | 8% | 15 | 4 (27%) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 10 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
What These Records Cannot Show
The data does not describe the conduct behind any charge. It cannot show the evidence, the plea terms, or the reasons a case was dismissed.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so the post reports federal numbers only.
How We Counted
Every federal defendant whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and whose most serious charge at the end of the case (TTITLE1) was under 18 U.S.C. 1153, any subsection (444), Federal Judicial Center, counted as in the federal courts' Table D-4. Type of counsel is TCOUNSEL; labels from the FJC criminal codebook. Section heading from the U.S. Code as published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (release point 119-136).
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
Who is in each set of numbers. The federal sentencing numbers come from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They count only people who were convicted and sentenced in federal district court. People whose cases were dismissed or who were acquitted are not in them. The military numbers come from court-martial results, which include acquittals. To compare acquittal or dismissal rates, the federal side uses a different source: the Federal Judicial Center's case data, which counts every defendant whose case ended.
How "plea" and "trial" are counted. In the federal sentencing numbers, "trial" means the person was convicted after a trial, including people who pleaded guilty to some counts and went to trial on others. People acquitted at trial are not in these numbers at all (see "Who is in each set of numbers"). In the federal case data, the trial rate counts both convictions and acquittals at trial among all defendants whose cases ended, including dismissed cases. Military numbers count contested cases that reached a verdict. These denominators are not the same, and each post states the one it uses.
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.
Type of counsel describes groups of cases, not lawyers. The Federal Judicial Center records the type of counsel at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer differ from defendants who receive an appointed lawyer in their charges, criminal history, and circumstances, and some defendants change lawyers during a case. Differences in outcomes by type of counsel therefore cannot be credited to the type of lawyer.
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)
- 18 U.S.C. 1114, Protection of officers and employees of the United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1152, Laws governing: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1163, Embezzlement and theft from Indian tribal organizations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1201, Kidnapping: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025
- Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?
- 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.