29 U.S.C. 439, Violations and penalties: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
All 53 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under 29 U.S.C. 439 were charged at the Class A misdemeanor level. In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 50 (94%) pleaded guilty, 2 (4%) had their cases dismissed, and 1 went to a bench trial that did not end in an acquittal. Of
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › 29 U.S.C. 439
In brief: All 53 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under 29 U.S.C. 439 were charged at the Class A misdemeanor level. In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 50 (94%) pleaded guilty, 2 (4%) had their cases dismissed, and 1 went to a bench trial that did not end in an acquittal. Of the 51 convicted, 4 (8%) received a prison term on that charge.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 53 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
Title 29, section 439 of the U.S. Code is headed "Violations and penalties". In these records, every case under it was a Class A misdemeanor: 53 of 53 (100%). None was a felony, and none was a petty offense.
That level matters when reading the rest of the numbers. The records sort each charge as a felony, a Class A misdemeanor, or a petty offense, and a Class A misdemeanor is below a felony.
Few Prison Terms
Of the 51 people convicted, only 4 (8%) received a prison term on this charge. The median term among those with a term of 1 month or more was 8 months.
That is a very small group of terms. The median of so few terms says little about what a typical sentence under this section would be. The records here do not show the sentences the other convicted defendants received.
How Did These Cases End?
Nearly every case closed with a guilty plea: 50 of 53 (94%). 2 (4%) were dismissed. The dismissal count includes charges the government dropped on its own motion, such as after a guilty plea in another case.
Only 1 defendant (2%) went to trial. It was a bench trial, decided by a judge rather than a jury, and it ended in a conviction. In total, 51 of the 53 (96%) were convicted.
Cases by Fiscal Year
Cases under this section became less frequent over the period. 14 ended in fiscal year 2016, and 1 ended in fiscal year 2021 and again in 2025. Each later year had 8 or fewer.
The only trial came in fiscal year 2023. The records cannot show why the number of cases changed.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 14 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 8 | 8 of 8 | 0 of 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 5 | 5 of 5 | 0 of 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 6 | 6 of 6 | 0 of 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 7 | 7 of 7 | 0 of 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 3 | 2 of 3 | 1 of 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 6 | 5 of 6 | 0 of 6 | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2024 | 2 | 2 of 2 | 0 of 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
Who Represented the Defendants
Counsel is the type recorded at the end of the case. Private (retained) counsel represented 25 defendants (47%). A federal public or community defender represented 22 (42%). A CJA panel attorney, a private lawyer the court appointed, represented 5 (9%).
All 22 in the federal defender group pleaded guilty (100%), as did all 5 in the CJA group. In the retained group, 92% pleaded guilty and 4% were dismissed, and the one trial was in this group.
These figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Defendants who hire counsel and those given appointed counsel face different charges and circumstances, and the groups here are small.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 22 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| CJA panel attorney | 5 | 5 of 5 | 0 of 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Private (retained) counsel | 25 | 92% | 4% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
What the Numbers Cannot Show
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so this post gives federal numbers only. The records count case endings. They do not describe the conduct, the evidence, or the terms of any plea.
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 29 U.S.C. 439, any subsection (53), 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)
- 29 U.S.C. 501, Fiduciary responsibility of officers of labor organizations: 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.