18 U.S.C. 241, Conspiracy against rights: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Of the 129 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 241 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 50 went to trial (39%). Those trials ended in 18 acquittals, or 36%. Overall, 101 of the 129 (78%) were convicted, and the median prison term on that charge was 36 mo
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In brief: Of the 129 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 241 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 50 went to trial (39%). Those trials ended in 18 acquittals, or 36%. Overall, 101 of the 129 (78%) were convicted, and the median prison term on that charge was 36 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 129 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 Section Where Many Cases Went to Trial
Title 18, section 241 of the U.S. Code carries the heading "Conspiracy against rights." This post uses only that heading to describe the section.
The counts come from the Federal Judicial Center. Its records include every defendant whose case ended, so dismissals and acquittals are counted along with convictions. A defendant appears here when the most serious charge left at the end of the case was under section 241.
The 129 defendants ended their cases in 3 ways. 69 (53%) pleaded guilty, 10 (8%) had their cases dismissed, and 50 (39%) went to trial. More of these defendants went to trial than had their charges dismissed.
How Did the 50 Trials End?
Juries decided almost every trial under this section. There were 49 jury trials, and 18 of them ended in an acquittal (37%).
Only 1 trial was decided by a judge sitting without a jury. It did not end in an acquittal.
The acquittal figures cover trials alone. The 10 dismissed cases ended without any verdict, so they are not part of the 36% acquittal rate.
Counts Year by Year
Fiscal year 2024 had more cases end under this section than any other year in the period: 32. That year also had 24 trials, with 9 acquittals (38%). Only 16% of the 2024 defendants pleaded guilty.
Most other years had far fewer cases, from 3 in 2021 to 22 in 2016. With counts this small, a few cases can change a year's percentages. The yearly rows are not a trend. Federal fiscal years start in October, so they do not match calendar years.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 22 | 64% | 9% | 6 | 5 (5 of 6) |
| 2017 | 12 | 58% | 0% | 5 | 0 (0 of 5) |
| 2018 | 4 | 3 of 4 | 0 of 4 | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2019 | 10 | 60% | 10% | 3 | 3 (3 of 3) |
| 2020 | 7 | 4 of 7 | 1 of 7 | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2021 | 3 | 1 of 3 | 0 of 3 | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2022 | 12 | 75% | 0% | 3 | 1 (1 of 3) |
| 2023 | 15 | 80% | 0% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| 2024 | 32 | 16% | 9% | 24 | 9 (38%) |
| 2025 | 12 | 67% | 25% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
Felony Charges and Prison Terms
Every defendant counted here faced a felony as the top charge: 129 (100%). No case had a Class A misdemeanor or a petty offense as its most serious charge.
Of the 101 defendants who were convicted, 87 (86%) received a prison term on this charge. Among those with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 36 months (3 years). The median is the middle term when all terms are listed from shortest to longest.
Type of Counsel When the Case Ended
Private (retained) counsel represented 78 defendants (60%). CJA panel attorneys represented 37 (29%), and a federal public or community defender represented 11 (9%).
The private counsel group had 35 trials, and 15 ended in an acquittal (43%). The CJA panel group had 12 trials and 1 acquittal (8%). The defender group had 3 trials, with 2 acquittals. Guilty pleas were most common in the defender group (73%) and least common in the private counsel group (50%).
These differences come with a caution. Counsel type is recorded at the end of the case, and people who hire a lawyer often face different charges and circumstances than people who receive an appointed one. The numbers describe groups of cases, not the quality of the lawyers who handled them.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 11 | 73% | 0% | 3 | 2 (2 of 3) |
| CJA panel attorney | 37 | 59% | 8% | 12 | 1 (8%) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 78 | 50% | 5% | 35 | 15 (43%) |
Limits of These Records
The counts say nothing about the facts of any case. They also cannot show why a defendant chose a plea or a trial, or why a prosecutor dropped a charge.
Only the most serious charge at the end of each case is counted. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so the post reports federal numbers on their own.
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. 241, any subsection (129), 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. 228, Failure to pay legal child support obligations: 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. 242, Deprivation of rights under color of law: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 249, Hate crime acts: 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.