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# 33 U.S.C. 1319, Enforcement: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-33-usc-1319-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:56:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:56:11.000Z
- Description: Federal court records list 85 defendants whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 with 33 U.S.C. 1319 as the most serious charge. Of the 82 who were convicted, 13 (16%) received a prison term on that charge, and the median term was 15.5 months. Most defendants, 76 (89%), pleaded guilty.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 33 U.S.C. 1319

**In brief:** Federal court records list 85 defendants whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 with 33 U.S.C. 1319 as the most serious charge. Of the 82 who were convicted, 13 (16%) received a prison term on that charge, and the median term was 15.5 months. Most defendants, 76 (89%), pleaded guilty.

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 85 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](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/).

## Few Convictions Led to Prison

Conviction was the usual result here: 82 of the 85 defendants (96%) were convicted by plea or at trial. A prison term on this charge was much less common. Only 13 of the 82 convicted defendants (16%) received one.

For the defendants with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 15.5 months. That median is based on a small group of terms.

These records show the prison term on this charge alone. They do not show what other sentence the remaining convicted defendants received.

## Felony or Misdemeanor

Title 33, section 1319 is headed "Enforcement". In these cases the section was charged both as a felony and as a misdemeanor. 57 defendants (67%) faced it as a felony, and 28 (33%) faced it as a Class A misdemeanor. None were charged with a petty offense.

The data used for this post does not break the prison figures down by level of charge. It cannot show whether felony and misdemeanor cases ended differently.

## How Did the Cases End?

The Federal Judicial Center counts every defendant whose case ended, including those whose charges were dismissed and those acquitted. Of the 85, 76 pleaded guilty, 2 (2%) had the charges dismissed, and 7 (8%) went to trial.

All 7 trials were jury trials. 1 of the 7 ended in an acquittal. There were no bench trials.

The yearly counts are small. Fiscal years 2016 and 2017 each had 18 cases end, while fiscal years 2024 and 2025 each had 3\. Fiscal year 2025 had 2 trials out of its 3 cases. Totals this small do not show a trend.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 18          | 89%            | 0%        | 2      | 1 (1 of 2)         |
| 2017        | 18          | 78%            | 11%       | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| 2018        | 5           | 5 of 5         | 0 of 5    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 12          | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2020        | 4           | 4 of 4         | 0 of 4    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 6           | 6 of 6         | 0 of 6    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 5           | 5 of 5         | 0 of 5    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 11          | 91%            | 0%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2024        | 3           | 3 of 3         | 0 of 3    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 3           | 1 of 3         | 0 of 3    | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |

## Type of Counsel

Retained private counsel handled 68 of the 85 defendants (80%). A federal public or community defender represented 10 (12%), a CJA panel attorney represented 6 (7%), and 1 defendant was self-represented. A CJA panel attorney is a private lawyer whom the court appoints.

All 10 defendants with a federal defender pleaded guilty. With a CJA panel attorney, 4 of 6 pleaded guilty and 2 went to trial, with no acquittal. With retained counsel, 90% pleaded guilty, 3% were dismissed, and 5 went to trial, with 1 acquittal.

Differences between these groups should not be read as a measure of lawyer quality. Type of counsel is noted at the end of the case, and defendants who hire a lawyer face different charges and circumstances than defendants given an appointed lawyer. The table describes groups of cases.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 10         | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 6          | 4 of 6         | 0 of 6    | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 68         | 90%            | 3%        | 5      | 1 (1 of 5)         |
| Self-represented                       | 1          | 1 of 1         | 0 of 1    | 0      | 0                  |

## What These Numbers Cannot Show

The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this statute. The post therefore compares nothing with military cases.

With 85 defendants and 7 trials over 10 fiscal years, the counts are modest. The records do not explain why a case was dismissed, why a jury acquitted, or what conduct led to the charge.

### 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 33 U.S.C. 1319, any subsection (85), 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)
- [33 U.S.C. 1908, Penalties for violations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-33-usc-1908-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.