Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2024
For federal theft and fraud cases under §2B1.1 with no loss amount specified, the median prison term in fiscal year 2024 was 21 months. That was higher than the 20-month median for every §2B1.1 case that year. 663 of the 908 people sentenced in this band (73%) went to prison.
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In brief: For federal theft and fraud cases under §2B1.1 with no loss amount specified, the median prison term in fiscal year 2024 was 21 months. That was higher than the 20-month median for every §2B1.1 case that year. 663 of the 908 people sentenced in this band (73%) went to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 908 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
Median Prison Term in Fiscal Year 2024
The 21-month median covers the 663 people who received a prison term. A quarter of them received 42 months or more. A quarter received 6 months or less.
Across all §2B1.1 cases sentenced in fiscal year 2024, in every loss band, the median was 20 months. That group numbered 5,015 people, and 74% went to prison.
For this band over fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, the median was also 20 months. The band covered 10,086 people in those years, and 74% were sent to prison.
| 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% |
Which Cases Are Counted
Guideline §2B1.1 ties part of the sentence calculation to dollar loss, through a loss table with set steps. The U.S. Sentencing Commission uses those steps to place cases in bands. These 908 cases have no loss amount in the records.
The Commission counts only people convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals do not appear. Fiscal year 2024 started October 1, 2023 and ended September 30, 2024.
Pleading Guilty or Going to Trial
867 of 908 (95%) pleaded guilty. 41 were convicted after a trial.
Among the guilty pleas, 93% included a written plea agreement and 6% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 19 months. After a trial, it was 37 months. Only 37 people were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so that median comes from a small number of sentences. The records cannot show whether the trial cases involved different conduct.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
A judge first calculates a guideline range in months, then chooses the sentence. For all 908 people, the records show where it fell.
405 (45%) were sentenced within the range. 251 (28%) were sentenced below it at the government's request. 229 (25%) were sentenced below it without a government request. 23 (3%) were sentenced above it.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 80 people (9%).
Probation, Supervision, and Payments
200 people (22%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
642 (71%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 36 months, and 1 person received supervised release for life.
Restitution was ordered for 607 (67%). A fine was ordered for 95 (10%).
Criminal History
73% of the people sentenced were in criminal history category I, the lowest category. 5% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records do not record criminal history, so this figure has no military match.
What These Figures Leave Out
The data does not say why the loss went unrecorded or what led to any particular sentence. One year of figures is also too short to show a trend.
There is no court-martial version of this post. Court-martial records rarely state the dollar value in larceny cases, so military cases cannot be grouped by loss.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2024 under guideline §2B1.1 whose recorded dollar loss falls in the band "loss not specified" (908), 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 2023 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2025 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With No Dollar Loss, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,000 or Less, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,001 to $15,000, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $550,001 to $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2024 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss Over $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.