19 U.S.C. 1459, Reporting requirements for individuals: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Almost every federal case under 19 U.S.C. 1459 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was a Class A misdemeanor: 736 of 743 defendants (more than 99%). Of the 731 convicted, 723 (99%) received a prison term on that charge, with a median term of 7 months. Guilty pleas ended 723 cases (97%), and none of the 8 t
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In brief: Almost every federal case under 19 U.S.C. 1459 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 was a Class A misdemeanor: 736 of 743 defendants (more than 99%). Of the 731 convicted, 723 (99%) received a prison term on that charge, with a median term of 7 months. Guilty pleas ended 723 cases (97%), and none of the 8 trials ended in an acquittal.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 743 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 Misdemeanor Section With Prison Terms
Title 19, section 1459 of the U.S. Code is headed "Reporting requirements for individuals". The Federal Judicial Center records 743 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under this section. The count follows the federal courts' Table D-4.
No case under this section was charged as a felony. Class A misdemeanors made up 736 cases, more than 99%. The remaining 7 (less than 1%) were petty offenses.
Even so, prison terms were the usual result after conviction. Of the 731 defendants convicted, 723 received a prison term on this charge. That is 99%. The median term, counting terms of 1 month or more, was 7 months.
Pleas, Dismissals, and Convictions
Most cases ended in a guilty plea: 723 of 743, or 97%. Dismissals ended 12 cases (2%), and 8 cases (1%) went to trial. In all, 731 of the 743 defendants (98%) were convicted by plea or at trial.
The Federal Judicial Center count includes every case that ended, not only those that led to a sentence. Dismissals in these records include charges dismissed on the government's motion, such as after a guilty plea in another case.
Trials Under This Section
There were 8 trials in the 10 fiscal years. Of those, 6 were bench trials, decided by a judge, and 2 were jury trials. None of the 8 trials ended in an acquittal.
No fiscal year had more than 2 trials. The count of trials is small, so it cannot show how a future trial under this section would end.
Year-by-Year Case Counts
The number of cases varied widely by fiscal year. Fiscal year 2023 had the most, with 181 cases. Fiscal year 2019 had 127, and fiscal year 2025 had 112. Fiscal year 2017 had the fewest, with 20.
The guilty plea share stayed between 96% and 100% in every year. The dismissal share was 4% or less in every year. The records show how many cases ended each year, but they do not show why the counts rose or fell.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 36 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 20 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 49 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 127 | 97% | 2% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2020 | 69 | 97% | 1% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2021 | 37 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 55 | 96% | 2% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2023 | 181 | 98% | less than 1% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2024 | 57 | 96% | 0% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2025 | 112 | 96% | 4% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
Counsel Recorded at the End of the Case
Federal public or community defenders represented 457 defendants (62%). CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 255 (34%). Retained private counsel represented 31 (4%).
Guilty plea shares were close across the groups: 97% for federal defenders, 98% for CJA panel attorneys, and 97% for retained counsel. The federal defender group had 5 trials and the CJA panel group had 3, with 0 acquittals in each. The retained counsel group had no trials.
These figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Defendants who hire a lawyer and those who are appointed one face different charges and circumstances.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 457 | 97% | 2% | 5 | 0 (0 of 5) |
| CJA panel attorney | 255 | 98% | 1% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 31 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
Limits of the Data
The records count each defendant once, by the most serious charge at the end of the case. A defendant with a more serious charge under another section is not in this count. The data does not include the facts of any case. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so this post reports the 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 19 U.S.C. 1459, any subsection (743), 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)
- 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.