42 U.S.C. 1383, Procedure for payment of benefits: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Every charge under 42 U.S.C. 1383 in this data was a felony, yet only 57 of the 179 people convicted (32%) received a prison term on that charge in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median term was 8 months. Of the 189 defendants, 178 (94%) pleaded guilty and 2 went to trial.
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In brief: Every charge under 42 U.S.C. 1383 in this data was a felony, yet only 57 of the 179 people convicted (32%) received a prison term on that charge in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median term was 8 months. Of the 189 defendants, 178 (94%) pleaded guilty and 2 went to trial.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 189 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.
Felony Charges, Fewer Prison Terms
All 189 defendants faced a felony as the most serious charge at the end of the case (100%). The records list no misdemeanors or petty offenses.
Even so, a prison term on this charge was imposed on 57 of the 179 people convicted (32%). The remaining convicted defendants received no prison term on this count. The records do not say what sentence they received instead.
For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 8 months. That is the middle term when all terms are ranked, not the typical range.
The Section and Its Data
Title 42, section 1383 of the U.S. Code is headed "Procedure for payment of benefits." Only the federal criminal cases under it are counted here.
The Federal Judicial Center data includes 189 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 with this section as the most serious charge. It counts every case that ended, including those dismissed or acquitted.
Charge codes with a letter right after the section number were left out. The U.S. Code has a separately numbered section with that letter, and the codes cannot tell the two apart.
Guilty Pleas Ended Most Cases
Pleas of guilty closed 178 cases (94%). Charges were dismissed for 9 defendants (5%). Trials were held for 2 (1%).
A dismissal in this data can be a charge dropped at the government's request, such as after a guilty plea in a different case.
Altogether, 179 of the 189 defendants (95%) were convicted by plea or verdict.
2 Trials, 1 Acquittal
Of the 2 trials, 1 ended in an acquittal. The jury trial ended in a conviction, 0 of 1 acquitted. The bench trial, decided by a judge, ended in an acquittal, 1 of 1.
These 2 verdicts cannot support an acquittal rate for this section. They are reported only as counts.
Type of Counsel
Federal public or community defenders handled 122 defendants (65%). CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers the court appoints, handled 38 (20%). Private (retained) counsel handled 28 (15%).
Plea rates were close: 96% with retained counsel, 95% with CJA panel attorneys, and 94% with federal defenders. Dismissals were 5% in both appointed groups and 0% with retained counsel.
The federal defender group had 1 trial, which ended in an acquittal. The retained group had 1 trial, which did not. The CJA panel group had none.
Counsel type is recorded at the close of the case. Defendants who retain a lawyer and those given one by the court can face different charges and circumstances, so these numbers 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 | 122 | 94% | 5% | 1 | 1 (1 of 1) |
| CJA panel attorney | 38 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| Private (retained) counsel | 28 | 96% | 0% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
Cases by Fiscal Year
Between 13 and 30 cases ended in each year from fiscal year 2016 to 2023. Fiscal year 2024 had 3 cases and fiscal year 2025 had 8, all ending in a guilty plea.
Fiscal year 2023 had the highest dismissal share, 23% of 13 cases. Yearly counts this small cannot show a trend.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 27 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 25 | 92% | 4% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2018 | 30 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 19 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 24 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 15 | 93% | 7% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 25 | 92% | 4% | 1 | 1 (1 of 1) |
| 2023 | 13 | 77% | 23% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 3 | 3 of 3 | 0 of 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 8 of 8 | 0 of 8 | 0 | 0 |
Outside the Records
No case facts, plea terms, or reasons for a dismissal or verdict are in the data. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so the post stays with federal numbers.
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 42 U.S.C. 1383, any subsection (189), 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). Charge codes with a letter right after the section number (for example 42:1383A) were left out, because the U.S. Code also has a separately numbered section with that letter and the codes cannot tell the two apart.
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)
- 42 U.S.C. 408, Penalties: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 42 U.S.C. 6928, Federal enforcement: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 42 U.S.C. 7413, Federal enforcement: 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.