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# 50 U.S.C. 797, Penalty for violation of security regulations and orders: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-50-usc-797-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:22.000Z
- Description: Of 1,335 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 50 U.S.C. 797, 1,219 (91%) pleaded guilty, 111 (8%) had the charges dismissed, and 5 went to trial, over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Every one of these charges was recorded as a Class A misdemeanor. Most of the ca
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 50 U.S.C. 797

**In brief:** Of 1,335 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 50 U.S.C. 797, 1,219 (91%) pleaded guilty, 111 (8%) had the charges dismissed, and 5 went to trial, over fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Every one of these charges was recorded as a Class A misdemeanor. Most of the cases ended in a single year: 1,156 of them in fiscal year 2025.

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 1,335 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/).

## Almost All of These Cases Ended in Fiscal Year 2025

The yearly counts for this section are uneven. From fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2024, the number of cases ended each year ranged from 7 to 44\. In fiscal year 2025, the count was 1,156.

That single year shapes nearly every total in this post. In fiscal year 2025, 96% of the cases ended in a guilty plea and 4% ended in dismissal. In the earlier years, dismissals were more common, with rates such as 55% in 2019, 65% in 2020, and 43% in 2024.

The court records do not say why the count rose in fiscal year 2025\. Readers should treat the totals for fiscal years 2016 to 2025 as mostly a description of that one year's cases. The yearly table at the end of this post lists each year separately.

## The Section Heading and the Charge Level

Title 50, section 797 of the U.S. Code is headed "Penalty for violation of security regulations and orders". This post counts federal defendants whose most serious charge, at the point the case ended, was under this section in any subsection.

The records list the level of the charge for each defendant. All 1,335 were recorded as Class A misdemeanors. None were recorded as felonies, and none as petty offenses.

## Pleas, Dismissals, and Convictions

The Federal Judicial Center counts every defendant whose case ended, including those whose charges were dismissed and those acquitted at trial. On that basis, 1,221 of the 1,335 defendants (91%) were convicted, either by guilty plea or by a verdict at trial.

A dismissal here means the charges under this section were dismissed. That includes cases the government moved to dismiss, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in a different case. A dismissal in these records does not by itself mean the defendant faced no other charge.

## Only 5 Cases Went to Trial

Trials were rare under this section. Of the 5 trials, 3 ended in an acquittal. Juries decided 3 of the trials and acquitted in 2 of them. Judges decided the other 2 as bench trials, and 1 of those ended in an acquittal.

These counts are too small to describe a trial acquittal rate for this section. A change in 1 case would move any percentage built on 5 trials by a wide margin. The counts are reported here as counts.

## How Long Were the Prison Terms?

Of the 1,221 defendants convicted, 1,055 (86%) received a prison term on this charge. Among defendants with a term of 1 month or more, the median term was 1 month.

The median is the middle value when the terms are lined up from shortest to longest. The records counted here give the term on this charge only, not the total sentence a person may have received in the same case.

## Type of Counsel at the End of the Case

Most defendants in these cases had a CJA panel attorney, a private lawyer appointed by the court: 1,095 defendants (82%). Of that group, 97% pleaded guilty and 2% had their charges dismissed.

The smaller groups show different patterns. Defendants with a federal public or community defender (63, or 5%) pleaded guilty 65% of the time, and 32% had their charges dismissed. Defendants with private (retained) counsel (38, or 3%) pleaded guilty at 63% and saw dismissals at 32%. The 99 self-represented defendants (7%) pleaded guilty 88% of the time, with 12% dismissed and no trials.

These differences describe groups of cases, not the quality of the lawyers in them. Type of counsel is recorded at the end of the case, and defendants who hire a lawyer face different charges and circumstances from those who receive an appointed one.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 63         | 65%            | 32%       | 2      | 1 (1 of 2)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 1,095      | 97%            | 2%        | 1      | 1 (1 of 1)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 38         | 63%            | 32%       | 2      | 1 (1 of 2)         |
| Self-represented                       | 99         | 88%            | 12%       | 0      | 0                  |

## What These Records Cannot Show

The records count how cases ended and how they were charged at the end. They do not describe the conduct behind any charge, the reasons for a dismissal, or why so many cases ended in fiscal year 2025\. There is also no close court-martial counterpart for this section in the approved crosswalk, so the numbers stand on their own without a military comparison.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 7           | 5 of 7         | 2 of 7    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2017        | 12          | 58%            | 25%       | 2      | 1 (1 of 2)         |
| 2018        | 10          | 80%            | 20%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 11          | 36%            | 55%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2020        | 17          | 35%            | 65%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 23          | 78%            | 22%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 22          | 82%            | 18%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 33          | 61%            | 39%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2024        | 44          | 57%            | 43%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 1,156       | 96%            | 4%        | 2      | 2 (2 of 2)         |

### 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 50 U.S.C. 797, any subsection (1,335), 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)
- [50 U.S.C. 1705, Penalties: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-50-usc-1705-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.