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
In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 569 federal defendants had a case end with 18 U.S.C. 2314 as the most serious charge, and 482 of them (85%) were convicted. Most pleaded guilty (80%), 15% had the charges dismissed, and 29 (5%) went to trial. Of the 29 trials, 2 ended in an acquittal.
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In brief: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 569 federal defendants had a case end with 18 U.S.C. 2314 as the most serious charge, and 482 of them (85%) were convicted. Most pleaded guilty (80%), 15% had the charges dismissed, and 29 (5%) went to trial. Of the 29 trials, 2 ended in an acquittal.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 569 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.
Where This Count Comes From
The U.S. Code heads section 2314 of Title 18 "Transportation of stolen goods, securities, moneys, fraudulent State tax stamps, or articles used in counterfeiting". The post uses that heading and nothing more to describe the section.
The Federal Judicial Center records count every defendant whose case ended, including those whose charges were dismissed and those acquitted. A defendant appears here when this section was the most serious charge at the end of the case, counted as in the federal courts' Table D-4.
All 569 cases were felonies. No Class A misdemeanor or petty offense was recorded.
Dismissal Rates by Fiscal Year
Dismissals ended 85 cases (15%). The records use dismissed to mean the charges were dismissed, which includes dismissals on the government's motion, for example after a guilty plea in a different case.
The dismissal rate changed from year to year. It was 26% in fiscal year 2016 and 28% in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2018 it was 8%. In fiscal year 2025 it was 11%.
Guilty plea rates were lower in the years with more dismissals. The lowest was 59%, in fiscal year 2019, and the highest was 89%, in fiscal year 2018. The records do not show why the rates changed.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 68 | 65% | 26% | 6 | 1 (1 of 6) |
| 2017 | 74 | 88% | 8% | 3 | 1 (1 of 3) |
| 2018 | 64 | 89% | 8% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2019 | 54 | 59% | 28% | 7 | 0 (0 of 7) |
| 2020 | 41 | 71% | 22% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| 2021 | 51 | 88% | 12% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 47 | 87% | 13% | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 68 | 81% | 10% | 6 | 0 (0 of 6) |
| 2024 | 41 | 83% | 15% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2025 | 61 | 87% | 11% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
What Happened at Trial?
Juries heard 26 of the 29 trials and acquitted in 2 (8%). Judges heard 3 bench trials and acquitted in none (0 of 3).
Overall, 2 of 29 trials (7%) ended in an acquittal. Both acquittals came in the early part of the period, 1 in fiscal year 2016 and 1 in fiscal year 2017. Fiscal years 2021 and 2022 had no trials at all.
A trial count of 29 over 10 years is small. A single verdict changes the rate by several points.
Sentences on This Charge
Of the 482 convicted, 405 (84%) were sentenced to a prison term on this charge. For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 25 months (2.1 years). A sentence of life was recorded for 1 defendant.
The prison figures count only the term on this charge. Terms on other counts in the same case are not included.
Counsel: Groups of Cases, Not Lawyer Quality
CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 196 defendants (34%). Retained private counsel represented 188 (33%), and federal public or community defenders represented 139 (24%).
Defendants with retained counsel had the highest dismissal rate, 13%, and the lowest guilty plea rate, 82%. With a federal defender, 91% pleaded guilty and 6% had the case dismissed. With a CJA panel attorney, 89% pleaded guilty and 3% had the case dismissed.
Trials were 16 in the CJA panel group, 10 with retained counsel, and 3 with a federal defender. The 2 acquittals were both in the CJA panel group (13%).
These differences describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Defendants who hire a lawyer face different charges and circumstances than those who receive an appointed lawyer, and counsel type is recorded at the end of the case.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 139 | 91% | 6% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| CJA panel attorney | 196 | 89% | 3% | 16 | 2 (13%) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 188 | 82% | 13% | 10 | 0 (0%) |
What the Numbers Do Not Show
The data does not describe the conduct in any case, the evidence, or the reason a case was dismissed. It cannot explain the yearly changes.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this section, 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. 2314, any subsection (569), 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. 2261, Interstate domestic violence: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2312, Transportation of stolen vehicles: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2320, Trafficking in counterfeit goods or services: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 2421, Transportation generally: 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.