18 U.S.C. 2250, Failure to register: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Federal courts closed the cases of 3,709 defendants whose most serious charge was under 18 U.S.C. 2250 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 3,437 of them (93%) were convicted. Just 43 went to trial. Of those trials, 20 ended in an acquittal (47%), most of them decided by a judge rather than a jury.
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In brief: Federal courts closed the cases of 3,709 defendants whose most serious charge was under 18 U.S.C. 2250 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and 3,437 of them (93%) were convicted. Just 43 went to trial. Of those trials, 20 ended in an acquittal (47%), most of them decided by a judge rather than a jury.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 3,709 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.
A Large Section With Few Trials
In the U.S. Code, Title 18, section 2250 is headed "Failure to register". This post refers to the section only by that heading.
The Federal Judicial Center counted 3,709 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under section 2250 and whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Of the 3,709, 3,414 (92%) pleaded guilty and 252 (7%) had their cases dismissed. Only 43 (1%) went to trial.
Bench Trials and Jury Trials Ended Differently
The 43 trials produced 20 acquittals, or 47%. That share comes mostly from trials decided by a judge.
There were 23 bench trials, and 15 of them ended in acquittal (65%). There were 20 jury trials, and 5 of them ended in acquittal (25%).
The records do not say why a case was tried to a judge or to a jury. They also do not say what issue decided the verdict. The bench and jury groups may differ in ways these counts cannot show.
Prison Terms on This Charge
Every case under this section was recorded as a felony. No Class A misdemeanors or petty offenses appear.
Of the 3,437 convicted defendants, 3,266 (95%) received a prison term on the section 2250 charge. For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 21 months.
The median is the middle term once all terms are sorted by length. It reflects only this charge, not any time imposed on other counts.
Who Represented the Defendants
A caution applies before reading these figures. Counsel type is recorded at the end of the case, and defendants with hired lawyers and those with appointed lawyers often face different charges and circumstances. The figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.
Federal public or community defenders represented 2,897 defendants (78%). Their clients pleaded guilty 94% of the time, and 13 of their 23 trials ended in acquittal (57%).
CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 626 (17%). In that group, 91% pleaded guilty and 5 of 18 trials ended in acquittal (28%).
Retained private counsel represented 125 (3%), with a 92% plea rate; both of their 2 trials ended in acquittal. Another 5 defendants represented themselves. Of those 5, 4 pleaded guilty and 1 had the case dismissed.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 2,897 | 94% | 5% | 23 | 13 (57%) |
| CJA panel attorney | 626 | 91% | 6% | 18 | 5 (28%) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 125 | 92% | 6% | 2 | 2 (2 of 2) |
| Self-represented | 5 | 4 of 5 | 1 of 5 | 0 | 0 |
How Each Fiscal Year Looked
Cases ended under this section fell from 471 in fiscal year 2016 to a low of 310 in fiscal year 2021, then stayed between 319 and 349 through 2025. The records show the counts but not the reasons for any change.
Guilty plea rates ranged from 88% to 94%. The highest dismissal rate was 11%, in fiscal year 2021. Fiscal year 2025 had no trials at all.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 471 | 94% | 4% | 6 | 2 (2 of 6) |
| 2017 | 421 | 93% | 6% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| 2018 | 422 | 92% | 7% | 4 | 4 (4 of 4) |
| 2019 | 397 | 94% | 5% | 6 | 4 (4 of 6) |
| 2020 | 326 | 92% | 6% | 6 | 3 (3 of 6) |
| 2021 | 310 | 88% | 11% | 3 | 2 (2 of 3) |
| 2022 | 347 | 92% | 7% | 6 | 2 (2 of 6) |
| 2023 | 319 | 91% | 7% | 5 | 1 (1 of 5) |
| 2024 | 349 | 90% | 9% | 4 | 2 (2 of 4) |
| 2025 | 347 | 93% | 7% | 0 | 0 |
No Military Counterpart
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this statute. For that reason, the numbers here stand on their own, without a military comparison.
Gaps in the Record
Dismissals in these records include cases dismissed on the government's motion, for example after a guilty plea in another case, so a dismissal is not always the end of a prosecution. The data also leaves out the evidence, the plea terms, and the reasons behind any verdict.
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. 2250, any subsection (3,709), 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. 2243, Sexual abuse of a minor, a ward, or an individual in Federal custody: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2244, Abusive sexual contact: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2251, Sexual exploitation of children: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2252, Certain activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of 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.