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# 40 U.S.C. 5104, Unlawful activities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2021–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-40-usc-5104-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:41.000Z
- Description: Federal cases under 40 U.S.C. 5104 ended mostly in guilty pleas: 315 of 417 defendants (76%) in fiscal years 2021 to 2025. Every one of the 417 charges was a Class A misdemeanor. Of the 329 people convicted, 94 (29%) received a prison term on that charge, and the median term was 1 month.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 40 U.S.C. 5104

**In brief:** Federal cases under 40 U.S.C. 5104 ended mostly in guilty pleas: 315 of 417 defendants (76%) in fiscal years 2021 to 2025\. Every one of the 417 charges was a Class A misdemeanor. Of the 329 people convicted, 94 (29%) received a prison term on that charge, and the median term was 1 month.

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 417 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2021 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/).

## A Misdemeanor Section With No Felony Charges

The charge level is the first thing to know about this section. All 417 defendants had a Class A misdemeanor as the most serious charge at the end of the case (100%). The records list 0 felonies and 0 petty offenses.

Title 40, section 5104 of the U.S. Code is headed "Unlawful activities." This post does not describe the conduct the section covers. It reports only how the federal criminal cases under it ended.

The title of the post names fiscal years 2016 to 2025, but each of the 417 cases counted ended in fiscal years 2021 to 2025\. The Federal Judicial Center data includes every case that ended, so dismissals and acquittals are counted along with convictions.

## Prison Terms on a Misdemeanor Charge

Of the 329 people convicted, 94 (29%) received a prison term on this charge. The others were convicted without a prison term on this count.

The median term was 1 month, counting only terms of 1 month or more. A median is the middle value when terms are ranked. It says nothing about the longest or shortest term.

## How the 417 Cases Ended

Guilty pleas closed 315 cases (76%). Charges were dismissed for 86 defendants (21%). A trial was held for 16 (4%).

In these records, a dismissal may be a charge the government asked the court to drop. One example is a charge dropped after the defendant pleaded guilty in a separate case.

Counting pleas and trial verdicts together, 329 of the 417 defendants (79%) were convicted.

## Jury and Bench Trials

Of the 16 trials, 2 ended in an acquittal (13%). Juries decided 10 trials and acquitted in 1 (10%). Judges sitting without a jury decided 6 and acquitted in 1 of 6.

These trial counts are small. A single verdict in either direction would change the rates noticeably, so they should be read as counts.

## Fiscal Year 2025 Looked Different

From fiscal year 2022 through 2024, guilty pleas ended 93% or more of the cases each year, and dismissals were 1% or lower. Fiscal year 2022 had 97 cases, 2023 had 120, and 2024 had 81.

Fiscal year 2025 had 118 cases. In that year 25% ended in a guilty plea and 71% were dismissed. The records show the change but not the reasons for it.

Trials were spread across the years: 1 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 6 in 2024, and 4 in 2025\. Fiscal year 2021 had a single case, which was dismissed.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2021        | 1           | 0 of 1         | 1 of 1    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 97          | 98%            | 1%        | 1      | 1 (1 of 1)         |
| 2023        | 120         | 96%            | 0%        | 5      | 0 (0 of 5)         |
| 2024        | 81          | 93%            | 0%        | 6      | 0 (0 of 6)         |
| 2025        | 118         | 25%            | 71%       | 4      | 1 (1 of 4)         |

## Who Represented the Defendants?

Private (retained) counsel represented 202 defendants (48%). Federal public or community defenders represented 118 (28%). CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 91 (22%).

Plea and dismissal rates were close across the counsel groups. Guilty pleas were 78% with federal defenders, 76% with retained counsel, and 75% with CJA panel attorneys. Dismissals were 18%, 19%, and 23% in the same order.

Retained counsel had 9 trials with 2 acquittals. Federal defenders had 5 trials and CJA panel attorneys had 2, with 0 acquittals in either group.

The type of counsel is recorded when the case ends. People who hire a lawyer and people who are assigned one may face different charges and circumstances, so these figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 118        | 78%            | 18%       | 5      | 0 (0 of 5)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 91         | 75%            | 23%       | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 202        | 76%            | 19%       | 9      | 2 (2 of 9)         |

## Limits of the Records

The data groups cases by the most serious charge left at the end. It holds no case facts and no reasons for a plea, a dismissal, or a verdict. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so no military comparison is made.

### 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 40 U.S.C. 5104, any subsection (417), 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)
- [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.