18 U.S.C. 1752, Restricted building or grounds: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2017–2025
Trials were common under 18 U.S.C. 1752, and none ended in an acquittal. Of 138 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 30 (22%) went to trial, and all 30 were convicted. With 106 guilty pleas (77%) and 2 dismissals (1%), 136 of the 138 (99%) were convicted.
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In brief: Trials were common under 18 U.S.C. 1752, and none ended in an acquittal. Of 138 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2017 to 2025, 30 (22%) went to trial, and all 30 were convicted. With 106 guilty pleas (77%) and 2 dismissals (1%), 136 of the 138 (99%) were convicted.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 138 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2017 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.
30 Trials, 0 Acquittals
Juries decided 14 of the 30 trials. Judges decided the other 16 in bench trials. The acquittal count was 0 for both kinds of trial.
The 22% trial share is the share of all 138 defendants whose cases ended in a trial. The rest ended in a guilty plea or a dismissal.
Only 2 cases (1%) were dismissed. In this data, a dismissal means the charges were dismissed, which can include a dismissal on the government's motion after a plea in another case.
Which Statute This Covers
The official heading of this U.S. Code section is "Restricted building or grounds". No other description is offered here.
The count includes each defendant whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under this section, any subsection. It follows the federal courts' Table D-4. Cases where the section was a lesser charge are not counted.
Almost All Petty Offenses
The charge level recorded at the end of the case was a petty offense for 137 defendants (more than 99%). A Class A misdemeanor was the level for 1 defendant (less than 1%). No case under this section was a felony in these records.
A petty offense is the lowest level of federal offense in the records. The prison figures below therefore describe petty offense cases almost entirely.
Prison Terms on This Charge
Of the 136 people convicted, 74 (54%) received a prison term on this charge. For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 3 months.
The median is the middle term in the group. It counts only the term on this section. Any sentence on another count or in another case is not part of it.
Counsel Type and Case Results
Retained private counsel represented 65 defendants (47%). Federal public or community defenders represented 49 (36%). CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 23 (17%).
The guilty plea rate was 78% with retained counsel, 82% with a defender, and 65% with a CJA panel attorney. Trials numbered 14, 9, and 7 in those groups, and none ended in an acquittal.
These numbers do not rate any lawyer. People who hire counsel and people who are appointed counsel can face different charges and circumstances, so the figures describe groups of cases only.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 49 | 82% | 0% | 9 | 0 (0 of 9) |
| CJA panel attorney | 23 | 65% | 4% | 7 | 0 (0 of 7) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 65 | 78% | 0% | 14 | 0 (0%) |
Cases by Fiscal Year
From fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2020, 1 case ended each year. The count was 33 in fiscal year 2022, 33 in fiscal year 2023, 49 in fiscal year 2024, and 19 in fiscal year 2025.
Trials were also spread unevenly. Fiscal year 2022 had 1 trial, while fiscal year 2023 had 11 and fiscal year 2024 had 10. In fiscal year 2025, 47% of cases ended in a guilty plea, 11% were dismissed, and 8 went to trial. The records do not explain these yearly changes.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 33 | 97% | 0% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2023 | 33 | 67% | 0% | 11 | 0 (0%) |
| 2024 | 49 | 80% | 0% | 10 | 0 (0%) |
| 2025 | 19 | 47% | 11% | 8 | 0 (0 of 8) |
What Cannot Be Read From These Numbers
The records describe outcomes, not the evidence or the conduct in any case. They also do not record why a defendant chose trial over a plea. No court-martial counterpart is listed in the approved crosswalk, so the post reports federal numbers alone.
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. 1752, any subsection (138), 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. 1709, Theft of mail matter by officer or employee: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1711, Misappropriation of postal funds: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1791, Providing or possessing contraband in prison: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1832, Theft of trade secrets: 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.