Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 1,240 people were sentenced in federal court under the theft and fraud guideline, §2B1.1, with no dollar loss amount specified in the records. Of them, 910 (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 24 months. That median was higher than the 22.2 months for all
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In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 1,240 people were sentenced in federal court under the theft and fraud guideline, §2B1.1, with no dollar loss amount specified in the records. Of them, 910 (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 24 months. That median was higher than the 22.2 months for all §2B1.1 cases sentenced that year.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 1,240 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended 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.
Who Is in This Group
The U.S. Sentencing Commission sorts §2B1.1 cases into bands by the dollar loss the court found. The band cut points follow the steps of the loss table in that guideline. For the 1,240 people counted here, the records give no loss amount, so they are grouped as "loss not specified."
The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Anyone acquitted, or whose case was dismissed, is not in these numbers. Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
How Long Were the Prison Terms?
910 of the 1,240 received a prison term. Among them, the median prison term was 24 months, or 2 years. A quarter received 42 months or more. Another quarter received 8 months or less.
240 people (19%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 882 (71%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 36 months.
Guilty Pleas Compared With Trials
1,180 of the 1,240 (95%) pleaded guilty. 60 were convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 22.2 months. After a trial it was 36 months. The trial figure rests on 54 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, which is a small group. The records do not show what charges or facts separated plea cases from trial cases, so the gap cannot be read as a penalty for going to trial.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 92% had a written plea agreement. 7% entered a straight plea with no agreement.
Sentences and the Guideline Range
Federal judges calculate a guideline range before sentencing, then decide whether to stay inside it. All 1,240 people had this information recorded. 538 (43%) received a sentence within the range. 338 (27%) received a sentence below the range at the government's request. 325 (26%) received a sentence below the range without a government request. 39 (3%) received a sentence above it.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 141 people (11%).
Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 840 people (68%). A fine was ordered for 139 (11%).
67% were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 5% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military counterpart.
How Fiscal Year 2016 Compares
Across all fiscal years from 2016 to 2025, this loss band covered 10,086 people. Their median prison term was 20 months, and 74% were sent to prison.
Among all §2B1.1 cases in fiscal year 2016, across every loss band, 7,104 people were sentenced. Their median prison term was 22.2 months, and 70% were sent to prison. The 73% prison rate in this band was higher than that figure.
The table below lists each fiscal year for this band.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,240 | 24 months | 95% |
| 2017 | 1,064 | 24 months | 95% |
| 2018 | 1,242 | 24 months | 95% |
| 2019 | 1,244 | 20 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 715 | 18 months | 96% |
| 2021 | 834 | 16.9 months | 97% |
| 2022 | 1,062 | 18 months | 95% |
| 2023 | 907 | 18 months | 95% |
| 2024 | 908 | 21 months | 95% |
| 2025 | 870 | 18 months | 96% |
What the Records Cannot Show
The records do not explain why no loss amount was listed for these cases. They also do not describe the schemes, the victims, or the reasons behind any sentence.
There is no matching court-martial figure. Court-martial records rarely show the dollar value of a larceny, so military theft cases cannot be split by dollar loss. This post describes one fiscal year of federal sentencing and nothing more.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2016 under guideline §2B1.1 whose recorded dollar loss falls in the band "loss not specified" (1,240), U.S. Sentencing Commission (LOSSHI).
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
Different cases reach each system. Federal prosecutors bring a narrow set of cases. In fiscal year 2024, immigration and drug trafficking cases were 59% of everyone sentenced in federal court (36,664 of 61,678). Many crimes that the military prosecutes, such as most assaults, most sexual assaults between adults, and drug use, are usually state crimes for civilians and reach federal court only in special situations, such as on federal land or in Indian Country. A federal case and a court-martial for the same crime can involve different kinds of facts.
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
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.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
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)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With No Dollar Loss, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,000 or Less, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,001 to $15,000, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $550,001 to $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss Over $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2016 (same year, other loss band)
- Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial
- Army Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Air Force Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 121 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (court-martial data)
- Article 121 (Larceny): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 121 UCMJ: Larceny and Wrongful Appropriation (law firm reference page)
- 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.