Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2023
Federal courts sentenced 907 people for theft or fraud in fiscal year 2023 under guideline §2B1.1 where no loss amount was specified. 858 (95%) pleaded guilty, and 93% of those guilty pleas came with a written plea agreement. 656 people (72%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 907 people for theft or fraud in fiscal year 2023 under guideline §2B1.1 where no loss amount was specified. 858 (95%) pleaded guilty, and 93% of those guilty pleas came with a written plea agreement. 656 people (72%) received a prison term, with a median of 18 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 907 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
Plea Agreements and Straight Pleas
A written plea agreement is a deal between the defendant and the prosecutor, filed with the court. A straight plea is a guilty plea entered without one.
Of the 858 guilty pleas in this band, 93% had a written plea agreement. 6% were straight pleas.
49 people were convicted after a trial instead of pleading guilty.
Is the Sentence Longer After Trial?
For those sent to prison after a guilty plea, the median prison term was 18 months. For those sent to prison after a trial, the median was 44.5 months.
The trial median covers 46 people. That is a small group, and the records do not show the charges or the facts that set those cases apart. The numbers describe what happened in each group and cannot show that a trial by itself led to a longer term.
About This Loss Band
The U.S. Sentencing Commission assigns §2B1.1 cases to dollar loss bands. The cut points track the steps of the guideline's loss table. These 907 people have no dollar loss recorded, so they are grouped as "loss not specified."
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the data. Cases ending in acquittal or dismissal are left out. Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
Prison, Probation, and Supervision
The median prison term for the 656 people sent to prison was 18 months. A quarter got 41 months or more. A quarter got 6 months or less.
211 (23%) were sentenced to probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
636 (70%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. 1 person received supervised release for life.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 77 people.
Position Against the Guideline Range
906 people had this information recorded. 375 (41%) received a sentence within the range. 261 (29%) received a sentence below it at the government's request. 244 (27%) received a sentence below it without a government request. 26 (3%) received a sentence above it.
Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 585 people (64%). A fine was ordered for 106 (12%).
72% were in criminal history category I. 6% were in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field to compare.
This Band Within Fiscal Year 2023
All §2B1.1 cases in fiscal year 2023, across every loss band, came to 4,904 people. Their median prison term was 21 months, and 75% went to prison. Both figures were higher than this band's.
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the band covered 10,086 people. The median prison term over those years was 20 months, and 74% were sent to prison. The table gives the count, median, and plea rate for each year.
| 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 Data Does Not Cover
The records do not explain why a loss amount was missing in these cases or why any sentence was set where it was. Court-martial records rarely give a dollar value for larceny, so there is no military counterpart to this band.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2023 under guideline §2B1.1 whose recorded dollar loss falls in the band "loss not specified" (907), 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 2022 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2024 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With No Dollar Loss, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,000 or Less, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,001 to $15,000, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $550,001 to $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2023 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss Over $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.