18 U.S.C. 1382, Entering military, naval, or Coast Guard property: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Every one of the 241 federal cases that ended under 18 U.S.C. 1382 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was recorded as a petty offense. Guilty pleas ended 232 of them (96%), and only 1 went to trial. Few of those convicted received a prison term on this charge: 21 of 233 (9%), with a median term of 2 month
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In brief: Every one of the 241 federal cases that ended under 18 U.S.C. 1382 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was recorded as a petty offense. Guilty pleas ended 232 of them (96%), and only 1 went to trial. Few of those convicted received a prison term on this charge: 21 of 233 (9%), with a median term of 2 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 241 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.
Petty Offenses Only
Title 18, section 1382 is headed "Entering military, naval, or Coast Guard property". The Federal Judicial Center lists 241 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under this section.
The records show 241 petty offenses (100%), no felonies, and no Class A misdemeanors. The level shown is the level of the most serious charge when the case ended.
Prison Was Uncommon
Of the 233 convicted, 21 (9%) received a prison term on this charge. Among those with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 2 months.
The records here do not say what the other convicted defendants received instead. The median is the middle term when the terms are put in order, and it rests on a small group of 21.
Pleas, Dismissals, and the Single Trial
Guilty pleas ended 232 cases. Dismissals ended 8 (3%). A dismissal in these records includes charges dismissed on the government's motion, for example after a guilty plea in a different case.
Only 1 case went to trial, before a jury, and it did not end in an acquittal. No acquittal rate can be drawn from a single trial.
Overall, 233 of the 241 (97%) were convicted.
Who Represented the Defendants?
Federal public or community defenders represented 109 defendants (45%). Self-represented defendants were the next largest group, at 52 (22%), and all of them pleaded guilty (100%).
CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 40 (17%), with a plea rate of 98%. Private (retained) counsel represented 38 (16%), with a plea rate of 97%. Federal defenders had a plea rate of 95%, and their group included the 1 trial.
Plea rates were close to one another across the counsel groups. Any differences describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Defendants with hired counsel, appointed counsel, or no counsel face different charges and circumstances, and counsel type is recorded at the end of the case.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 109 | 95% | 4% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| CJA panel attorney | 40 | 98% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| Private (retained) counsel | 38 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| Self-represented | 52 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
Counts by Fiscal Year
Yearly cases ranged from 9 in fiscal year 2024 to 36 in fiscal year 2019. Fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2023 each had a plea rate of 100%, and all 9 cases in fiscal year 2024 ended in a guilty plea. The lowest yearly plea rate was 81%, in fiscal year 2022, the only year with a trial.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 23 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 24 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 31 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 36 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 25 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 34 | 94% | 6% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 21 | 81% | 14% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2023 | 17 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 9 | 9 of 9 | 0 of 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 21 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
What the Records Do Not Cover
The data does not show where any case arose, the conduct, or whether the person had any tie to the military. It counts only the most serious charge at the end of the case.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so the numbers are federal 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. 1382, any subsection (241), 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. 1349, Attempt and conspiracy: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1361, Government property or contracts: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1425, Procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1470, Transfer of obscene material to minors: 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.