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# 18 U.S.C. 2261, Interstate domestic violence: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2261-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:39.000Z
- Description: Of 474 federal defendants whose most serious charge was under 18 U.S.C. 2261 and whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 393 (83%) pleaded guilty, 46 (10%) had their cases dismissed, and 35 (7%) went to trial. Altogether, 426 (90%) were convicted. Among those with a prison term on the charge
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 18 U.S.C. 2261

**In brief:** Of 474 federal defendants whose most serious charge was under 18 U.S.C. 2261 and whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 393 (83%) pleaded guilty, 46 (10%) had their cases dismissed, and 35 (7%) went to trial. Altogether, 426 (90%) were convicted. Among those with a prison term on the charge, the median term was 40 months, and 9 received life.

Updated November 3, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 474 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## How 474 Cases Ended

Title 18, section 2261 of the U.S. Code has the heading "Interstate domestic violence". That heading is the only description of the section used here.

Over the 10 fiscal years, the Federal Judicial Center recorded 474 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under this section. Guilty pleas ended 393 cases (83%). Dismissals ended 46 (10%), and 35 (7%) went to trial.

The dismissal figure counts every case in which the charges were dismissed. That includes dismissals on the government's motion, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in another case.

## Results at Trial

Juries decided 33 of the 35 trials, and 1 of those ended in an acquittal (3%). Judges decided the other 2, and 1 of the 2 ended in an acquittal.

Overall, 2 of the 35 trials ended in acquittal (6%). The rest ended in conviction, and combined with the guilty pleas, 426 of the 474 defendants (90%) were convicted.

## Sentences and Charge Level

The records classify all 474 cases as felonies. None was a Class A misdemeanor or a petty offense.

Of the 426 convicted, 403 (95%) received a prison term on the section 2261 charge. For terms of 1 month or more, the median was 40 months (3.3 years). The records show 9 life sentences.

A median marks the midpoint of the terms when they are ranked by length. Terms on other counts in the same case are not included.

## Results by Type of Counsel

Before comparing counsel groups, one caution matters. Counsel type is recorded at the end of the case, and defendants who hire a lawyer and those with an appointed lawyer face different charges and circumstances. The numbers describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.

Federal public or community defenders represented 214 defendants (45%). In this group, 83% pleaded guilty and 13% had their cases dismissed, the highest dismissal rate of the 3 groups. Both acquittals came from their 8 trials.

CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 130 (27%). Their clients pleaded guilty 82% of the time, had 6% dismissed, and went to trial 15 times with no acquittals.

Retained counsel represented 125 (26%). Their clients pleaded guilty 86% of the time, had 4% dismissed, and went to trial 12 times, also with no acquittals.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 214        | 83%            | 13%       | 8      | 2 (2 of 8)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 130        | 82%            | 6%        | 15     | 0 (0%)             |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 125        | 86%            | 4%        | 12     | 0 (0%)             |

## A Look at Each Fiscal Year

Yearly counts ranged from 20 cases in fiscal year 2017 to 75 in fiscal year 2023\. From 2022 through 2025, each year had at least 55.

The dismissal rate reached 20% in fiscal year 2021, the highest of any year. That year had 35 cases, so the rate rests on a small group. Both acquittals came in early years: fiscal years 2016 and 2018.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 34          | 76%            | 9%        | 5      | 1 (1 of 5)         |
| 2017        | 20          | 85%            | 10%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2018        | 41          | 80%            | 10%       | 4      | 1 (1 of 4)         |
| 2019        | 44          | 89%            | 7%        | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| 2020        | 38          | 84%            | 13%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2021        | 35          | 77%            | 20%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2022        | 66          | 86%            | 6%        | 5      | 0 (0 of 5)         |
| 2023        | 75          | 81%            | 11%       | 6      | 0 (0 of 6)         |
| 2024        | 55          | 85%            | 7%        | 4      | 0 (0 of 4)         |
| 2025        | 66          | 82%            | 9%        | 6      | 0 (0 of 6)         |

## No Approved Military Pairing

The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this statute. This post therefore presents only federal numbers.

## What These Records Do Not Show

The counts say nothing about the facts of any case or the evidence at trial. They do not record the reasons for dismissals or the terms of plea agreements. They also cannot show why some cases went to trial and most did not.

### 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. 2261, any subsection (474), 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). Charge codes with a letter right after the section number (for example 18:2261A) were left out, because the U.S. Code also has a separately numbered section with that letter and the codes cannot tell the two apart.

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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [18 U.S.C. 2251, Sexual exploitation of children: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2251-case-outcomes/) (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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2252-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 2312, Transportation of stolen vehicles: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2312-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 2314, Transportation of stolen goods, securities, moneys, fraudulent State tax stamps, or articles used in counterfeiting: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2314-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-appointed-vs-retained-counsel-outcomes/)
- [Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-trial-acquittal-rates-vs-courts-martial/)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.