18 U.S.C. 228, Failure to pay legal child support obligations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Dismissals were common under 18 U.S.C. 228: 29 of 105 federal defendants (28%) had their charges dismissed in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Most of the rest pleaded guilty, and 76 of the 105 (72%) were convicted. Prison terms were uncommon: 8 of the 76 convicted (11%) received one on this charge, with
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In brief: Dismissals were common under 18 U.S.C. 228: 29 of 105 federal defendants (28%) had their charges dismissed in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Most of the rest pleaded guilty, and 76 of the 105 (72%) were convicted. Prison terms were uncommon: 8 of the 76 convicted (11%) received one on this charge, with a median of 19.5 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 105 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.
Dismissals Under Section 228
In the U.S. Code, Title 18, section 228 is headed "Failure to pay legal child support obligations". This post counts the 105 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under that section.
Of the 105, 29 (28%) had the charges dismissed. Another 75 (71%) pleaded guilty, and 1 went to trial.
Dismissed in this data covers more than one situation. It includes charges dropped on the government's motion, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in a different case. The records do not say which reason applied in a given case, and a dismissal is not a finding of not guilty.
The Level of the Charge
The charges under this section were not all at one level. The records list 98 felony charges (93%) and 7 petty offenses (7%). No charge was recorded as a Class A misdemeanor.
The level is the level of the section 228 charge at the end of the case, not the level of any earlier charge.
Few Prison Terms
Of the 76 convicted defendants, 8 (11%) received a prison term on this charge. Most convictions under section 228 in this period did not include one.
For the 8 with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 19.5 months. A median drawn from 8 terms is a rough figure, and it describes only that small group.
A Single Trial in 10 Fiscal Years
Just 1 case went to trial in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It was a jury trial and did not end in an acquittal (0 of 1). No bench trial was recorded.
A single trial cannot support any statement about how trials under this section usually end.
What Type of Counsel Represented Defendants?
The records note counsel type at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer and those who receive an appointed lawyer face different charges and circumstances. Any comparison here is between groups of cases, not between lawyers' skill.
A federal public or community defender represented 75 defendants (71%). In that group, 87% pleaded guilty and 12% had the case dismissed. The group's 1 trial ended without an acquittal (0 of 1).
The other groups were small. Retained private counsel represented 6 defendants (6%), of whom 5 pleaded guilty and 1 was dismissed. CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 5 (5%), and all 5 pleaded guilty. The records list 1 self-represented defendant, whose case was dismissed (1 of 1).
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 75 | 87% | 12% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| CJA panel attorney | 5 | 5 of 5 | 0 of 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Private (retained) counsel | 6 | 5 of 6 | 1 of 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Self-represented | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
Section 228 Cases Over Time
Most section 228 cases in this period ended in the earliest years. The count was 38 in fiscal year 2016, 28 in fiscal year 2017, and 18 in fiscal year 2018.
From fiscal year 2019 on, no year had more than 7 cases. Fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2025 each had 1. In fiscal year 2024, 3 of 4 cases were dismissed.
Federal fiscal years begin October 1. The records cannot show why fewer cases ended in later years.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 38 | 82% | 18% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 28 | 71% | 29% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 18 | 78% | 22% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 7 | 5 of 7 | 1 of 7 | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2020 | 3 | 1 of 3 | 2 of 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 4 | 2 of 4 | 2 of 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 4 | 1 of 4 | 3 of 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
Where the Data Stops
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for section 228, so these are federal numbers alone.
The counts follow only the most serious charge at the end of a case. They do not describe the facts of any case, and they do not show why prosecutors or judges acted as they did.
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. 228, any subsection (105), 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. 157, Bankruptcy fraud: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 201, Bribery of public officials and witnesses: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 231, Civil disorders: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2017–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 241, Conspiracy against rights: 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.