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# 18 U.S.C. 231, Civil disorders: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2017–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-231-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:56.000Z
- Description: Federal records show 200 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2017 to 2025 with a most serious charge under 18 U.S.C. 231. Of those, 22 went to trial and none was acquitted, 50 (25%) had the charges dismissed, and 150 (75%) were convicted. Prison terms followed in 136 of the 150 convictions
- 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. 231

**In brief:** Federal records show 200 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2017 to 2025 with a most serious charge under 18 U.S.C. 231\. Of those, 22 went to trial and none was acquitted, 50 (25%) had the charges dismissed, and 150 (75%) were convicted. Prison terms followed in 136 of the 150 convictions (91%), with a median of 13 months.

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 200 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](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/).

## Most Cases Ended in Recent Fiscal Years

Title 18, section 231 of the U.S. Code is headed "Civil disorders". The earliest case in these records ended in fiscal year 2017, and no year before fiscal year 2021 had more than 2.

The count rose to 16 in fiscal year 2021 and reached 60 in fiscal year 2025\. Fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024 had 38, 39, and 41.

Fiscal year 2025 differed from the years just before it. In that year, 57% of cases were dismissed and 25% ended in a guilty plea, and 11 went to trial. In fiscal year 2023, by contrast, 90% pleaded guilty and 0% were dismissed. The records do not give reasons for these yearly differences.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2017        | 1           | 1 of 1         | 0 of 1    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2018        | 2           | 2 of 2         | 0 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 2           | 2 of 2         | 0 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2020        | 1           | 1 of 1         | 0 of 1    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 16          | 56%            | 38%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2022        | 38          | 76%            | 24%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 39          | 90%            | 0%        | 4      | 0 (0 of 4)         |
| 2024        | 41          | 83%            | 2%        | 6      | 0 (0 of 6)         |
| 2025        | 60          | 25%            | 57%       | 11     | 0 (0%)             |

## Trials Without an Acquittal

Of the 200 defendants, 22 (11%) went to trial. Judges decided 15 of those trials as bench trials, and juries decided 7.

None of the 22 trials ended in an acquittal (0%). That held for both the bench trials (0%) and the jury trials (0 of 7).

## Pleas, Dismissals, and Convictions

The Federal Judicial Center data counts every defendant whose case ended. Dismissed and acquitted defendants are included along with those convicted.

Guilty pleas accounted for 128 cases (64%). Dismissals accounted for 50 (25%).

A dismissal in this data includes charges dropped on the government's motion, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in another case. It does not mean a court found the defendant not guilty. In total, 150 of the 200 (75%) were convicted by plea or at trial.

## Charge Level and Prison Terms

All 200 charges under section 231 were felonies. The records list no Class A misdemeanors or petty offenses.

Among the 150 convicted, 136 (91%) received a prison term on this charge. The median term, for those with a term of 1 month or more, was 13 months. That figure is the middle value of the group and does not show the range of sentences.

## Counsel Recorded When the Case Ended

Type of counsel is noted at the end of each case. Those who retain a lawyer and those who receive an appointed one face different charges and circumstances, so the figures below describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.

Retained private counsel represented 78 defendants (39%). The group's plea share was 69%, its dismissal share was 24%, and its 5 trials ended without an acquittal (0 of 5).

A federal public or community defender represented 69 defendants (35%). In that group, 59% pleaded guilty and 26% were dismissed. It had 10 trials, and 0% ended in an acquittal.

CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 49 defendants (25%). They had a 67% plea share and an 18% dismissal share, and their 7 trials produced no acquittal (0 of 7).

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 69         | 59%            | 26%       | 10     | 0 (0%)             |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 49         | 67%            | 18%       | 7      | 0 (0 of 7)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 78         | 69%            | 24%       | 5      | 0 (0 of 5)         |

## What This Count Does Not Cover

The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for section 231\. This post gives federal numbers only.

Defendants are counted by the most serious charge at the end of the case. The records do not describe what happened in any case, and they do not explain why a case was dismissed, pleaded, or tried.

### 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. 231, any subsection (200), 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](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. 201, Bribery of public officials and witnesses: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-201-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 228, Failure to pay legal child support obligations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-228-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 241, Conspiracy against rights: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-241-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 242, Deprivation of rights under color of law: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-242-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.