Eastern District of Virginia

A U.S. district court in the Fourth Circuit, in Virginia. Its figures are federal cases and are never added to Virginia's.

People sentenced, FY2025: 884
Noncitizens, FY2025: 20%
Pretrial cases, FY2025: 779
Detained, FY2025: 54.6%

Federal sentences

People sentenced in this court under the federal guidelines, by federal fiscal year (October to September), counted by CrimeDB from the Sentencing Commission's records. Dashed lines mark changes in federal sentencing law.

People sentenced, FY2002 to FY2025

FY2003: PROTECT Act, April 30, 2003: appeals courts review departures from the guidelines anew, and the Commission must cut downward departures.
FY2005: United States v. Booker, January 12, 2005: the guidelines become advisory, so FY2005 holds sentences from before and after.
FY2008: Gall and Kimbrough, December 10, 2007: judges may sentence outside the range with less reason given, including over the crack to powder ratio.
FY2010: Fair Sentencing Act, August 3, 2010: crack cocaine thresholds rise and the crack to powder ratio falls from 100 to 1 to about 18 to 1.
FY2019: First Step Act, December 21, 2018: a wider safety valve, no more stacked gun counts, and the crack changes made retroactive.
FY2024: Guideline amendments of November 1, 2023: fewer criminal history points for offenses committed under supervision, and a lower range for people with none.

Sentence type and length, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
Prison only	78%692	692
Prison and alternatives	2%17	17
Probation and alternatives	2%16	16
Probation only	14%121	121
Fine only	4%38	38

Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. The median prison term was 48 months (mean 79) for the 709 sentenced to prison, 4 of them to life; life and anything over 470 months count as 470, as the Commission counts them.

Percent sentenced to prison, FY2002 to FY2025

Median prison term in months, FY2002 to FY2025

FY2018: From FY2018 the Commission counts a sentence of time served with no amount given as one day of prison; before, it left those out of the prison term. Counted that way, FY2017's national median prison term would be 24 months, not 27.

People sentenced by offense, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
Drug Trafficking	26%227	227
Other	16%141	141
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	16%138	138
Immigration	12%103	103
Firearms	11%96	96
Sex Abuse	4%34	34
Child Pornography	4%31	31
Robbery	2%21	21
Money Launder	2%20	20
Murder	1%10	10
Administration of Justice	1%9	9
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	1%9	9
Bribery/Corruption	1%6	6
Kidnapping	1%6	6
National Defense	1%6	6
Assault	1%5	5
Environmental	1%4	4
Tax	1%4	4
Drug Possession	<1%3	3
Burglary/Trespass	<1%2	2
Commercialized Vice	<1%2	2
Individual Rights	<1%2	2
Prison Offenses	<1%2	2
Stalking/Harassing	<1%2	2
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	<1%1	1

All 884 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline).

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by offense, FY2018 to FY2025

Offense	FY2018	FY2019*	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024*	FY2025
Drug Trafficking	252	269	182	263	233	211	194	227
Other	279	215	156	177	163	119	124	141
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	188	165	116	149	147	133	110	138
Immigration	175	225	110	77	90	66	58	103
Firearms	136	112	81	99	105	118	114	96
Child Pornography	51	50	31	40	34	56	36	31
Sex Abuse	28	19	15	21	21	39	26	34
Robbery	32	28	23	14	13	33	17	21
Drug Possession	51	37	27	32	15	6	4	3
Money Launder	21	15	12	19	17	18	7	20
Murder	15	6	8	13	14	10	18	10
Assault	20	13	10	10	2	14	11	5
Bribery/Corruption	14	7	7	10	16	5	7	6
Tax	13	10	8	14	6	7	9	4
Administration of Justice	12	7	2	3	11	4	6	9
National Defense	13	4	7	4	6	6	3	6
Environmental	3	7	3	8	1	2	12	4
Commercialized Vice	1	4	0	2	6	10	8	2
Stalking/Harassing	6	4	5	4	5	3	3	2
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	3	1	2	3	3	7	2	9
Prison Offenses	1	5	1	0	1	10	3	2
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	1	6	4	4	3	1	0	1
Kidnapping	6	0	1	0	3	2	0	6
Individual Rights	0	1	1	1	0	3	4	2
Arson	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Extortion/Racketeering	3	1	0	1	0	0	1	0
Burglary/Trespass	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2
Food and Drug	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Manslaughter	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
All offenses	1,331	1,211	813	968	919	884	777	884

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

Earlier years, under the Commission's older offense types, are in the tables at the foot of the page.

People sentenced by citizenship, FY2025

Share of people sentenced
U.S. citizen	75%663	663
Not a U.S. citizen	20%175	175
Citizenship not known	5%46	46

103 of the 884 were sentenced for an immigration offense.

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

People sentenced by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025
Black, 12 placed by CrimeDB	48%428	428
Hispanic, 7 placed by CrimeDB	22%190	190
White+MENA, 7 placed by CrimeDB	21%185	185
Asian+NHPI, 4 placed by CrimeDB	3%24	24
AIAN, 1 placed by CrimeDB	1%5	5
Race unknown	6%52	52

Race and Hispanic origin as each person told the probation officer
Race recorded without ethnicity: split by the source's own recorded Hispanic share of each race

All 884 people sentenced. Race and Hispanic origin as each person told the probation officer. Hispanic is of any race; the other groups are not Hispanic. White+MENA includes Middle Eastern and North African people. USSC recorded a race and no Hispanic origin for 31 people in FY2025: each keeps that race, and CrimeDB placed only their Hispanic origin, the lighter part.

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025

People sentenced by criminal history category, FY2025
I	53%467	467
II	14%127	127
III	14%125	125
IV	5%45	45
V	4%35	35
VI	7%60	60
Category not known	3%25	25

All 884 people sentenced. By the category the court found, I (least) to VI (most), from points for prior sentences under the guidelines.

Sentences against the guideline range, FY2025

Sentences against the guideline range, FY2025
Within the range	53%469	469
Above the range	3%24	24
Below the range, government-sponsored	11%101	101
Below the range, not government-sponsored	30%268	268
Not known or not comparable	3%22	22

All 884 people sentenced. In the Commission's four groups. Government-sponsored: the prosecutor moved for it, for substantial assistance, early disposition, or another reason.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Pretrial release and detention

Defendants whose pretrial services case opened in the fiscal year, and the percent detained and never released before trial, as U.S. Courts prints them. Table H-14 counts every case, H-14A leaves out immigration cases, and H-14B, from FY2022, leaves out the cases U.S. Courts classes as illegal alien cases.

Percent detained, all cases (H-14), FY2006 to FY2025

Pretrial release and detention, FY2025

Which cases	Table	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
All cases	H-14	779	425	354	54.6%	45.4%
Excluding immigration cases	H-14A	675	327	348	48.4%	51.6%
Excluding illegal alien cases	H-14B	628	282	346	44.9%	55.1%

Detained: detained and never released before trial, as U.S. Courts prints it.

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B.

Every figure as a table

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	U.S. citizens	Noncitizens	Citizenship not known	Immigration offenses
FY2002	1,618	1,151	193	274	89
FY2003	1,985	1,314	222	449	96
FY2004	2,097	1,268	259	570	150
FY2005	1,844	1,180	253	411	159
FY2006	1,746	1,188	211	347	126
FY2007	1,767	1,081	249	437	155
FY2008	2,032	1,203	370	459	226
FY2009	2,117	1,088	391	638	277
FY2010	2,075	985	441	649	306
FY2011	2,067	936	473	658	319
FY2012	1,896	909	443	544	290
FY2013	1,707	783	419	505	224
FY2014	1,630	1,059	324	247	215
FY2015	1,461	964	253	244	141
FY2016	1,413	1,056	195	162	92
FY2017	1,181	898	178	105	81
FY2018	1,331	975	249	107	175
FY2019	1,211	822	318	71	225
FY2020	813	595	170	48	110
FY2021	968	741	152	75	77
FY2022	919	697	178	44	90
FY2023	884	692	149	43	66
FY2024	777	593	139	45	58
FY2025	884	663	175	46	103

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Immigration offenses are the Commission's offense type for the year (OFFTYPE2 to FY2009, OFFTYPSB to FY2017, OFFGUIDE from FY2018).

Sentence type in the Eastern District of Virginia, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	People sentenced	Prison only	Prison and alternatives	Probation and alternatives	Probation only	Fine only	Type not known	Sentenced to prison	Life sentences
FY2002	1,618	1,133	62	84	322	8	9	74%	11
FY2003*	1,985	1,324	66	113	445	30	7	70%	8
FY2004	2,097	1,426	41	87	483	41	19	71%	12
FY2005*	1,844	1,339	73	66	323	22	21	77%	15
FY2006	1,746	1,313	64	82	264	18	5	79%	14
FY2007	1,767	1,256	60	90	334	20	7	75%	9
FY2008*	2,032	1,461	67	71	294	134	5	75%	7
FY2009	2,117	1,379	43	93	378	219	5	67%	11
FY2010*	2,075	1,322	48	70	350	284	1	66%	7
FY2011	2,067	1,304	37	71	353	302	0	65%	13
FY2012	1,896	1,254	31	68	260	280	3	68%	20
FY2013	1,707	1,105	23	57	319	203	0	66%	8
FY2014	1,630	1,000	47	56	309	218	0	64%	5
FY2015	1,461	831	27	80	279	244	0	59%	6
FY2016	1,413	872	28	71	244	198	0	64%	6
FY2017	1,181	784	19	29	233	116	0	68%	9
FY2018	1,331	912	22	57	212	128	0	70%	15
FY2019*	1,211	865	26	51	193	76	0	74%	8
FY2020	813	558	22	37	122	74	0	71%	4
FY2021	968	687	15	41	144	81	0	73%	5
FY2022	919	691	24	22	131	51	0	78%	10
FY2023	884	720	10	14	110	30	0	83%	8
FY2024*	777	585	21	16	123	32	0	78%	14
FY2025	884	692	17	16	121	38	0	80%	4

USSC's sentence types (SENTIMP). Alternatives are home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement. Sentenced to prison: prison only, or prison and alternatives, of those whose type is known.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

Sentence length in the Eastern District of Virginia, by fiscal year (months)

Fiscal year	Sentence, mean	Sentence, median	People sentenced	Prison term, mean	Prison term, median	Sentenced to prison
FY2002	57	24	1,610	78	46	1,173
FY2003*	55	14	1,976	82	46	1,328
FY2004	58	15	2,075	85	52	1,405
FY2005*	62	24	1,822	82	46	1,365
FY2006	65	24	1,741	86	48	1,319
FY2007	61	20	1,758	84	48	1,268
FY2008*	59	22	2,028	81	51	1,460
FY2009	49	8	2,111	76	44	1,346
FY2010*	44	8	2,069	70	37	1,297
FY2011	45	6	2,067	73	36	1,248
FY2012	53	11	1,894	83	48	1,200
FY2013	47	8	1,707	77	42	1,039
FY2014	46	6	1,630	77	40	969
FY2015	37	2	1,461	67	36	791
FY2016	52	9	1,413	86	48	854
FY2017	50	12	1,181	77	48	771
FY2018	57	15	1,331	80	48	934
FY2019*	47	12	1,211	64	30	891
FY2020	47	12	813	66	39	580
FY2021	55	24	968	76	48	702
FY2022	56	24	919	72	38	715
FY2023	68	36	884	82	60	730
FY2024*	65	27	777	82	48	606
FY2025	63	27	884	79	48	709

Sentence: prison and alternative confinement, with probation and fines as zero (USSC's sentence length). Prison term: prison alone, for those sentenced to prison (USSC's length of imprisonment). Life and anything over 470 months count as 470, as USSC counts them.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

FY2018: From FY2018 the Commission counts a sentence of time served with no amount given as one day of prison; before, it left those out of the prison term. Counted that way, FY2017's national median prison term would be 24 months, not 27.

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by offense, FY2002 to FY2009

Offense	FY2002	FY2003*	FY2004	FY2005*	FY2006	FY2007	FY2008*	FY2009
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	554	682	664	625	586	491	596	434
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	210	327	429	298	268	359	397	601
Fraud	240	253	232	223	220	234	279	227
Firearms	161	189	225	213	183	202	209	209
Immigration	89	96	150	159	126	155	226	277
Larceny	94	93	74	79	68	70	75	93
Drugs - Simple Possession	51	131	101	71	70	54	44	58
Pornography/Prostitution	25	15	17	17	29	44	40	66
Administration of Justice	27	41	44	21	24	21	27	32
Money Laundering	17	18	26	16	32	20	21	28
Forgery/Counterfeiting	23	33	16	22	19	25	9	6
Racketeering/Extortion	20	11	19	8	8	16	23	14
Embezzlement	23	24	19	16	12	3	11	9
Assault	15	18	17	13	9	14	16	8
Tax Offenses	19	7	12	12	16	13	13	18
Robbery	21	13	12	13	20	8	12	6
Bribery	3	5	3	2	16	7	6	5
Sexual Abuse	2	3	2	5	5	8	3	11
Prison Offenses	4	1	7	11	3	2	2	5
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	4	1	4	4	3	5	4	1
Murder	0	4	4	3	5	2	1	2
Drugs - Communication Facilities	5	1	1	3	7	1	2	0
Auto Theft	2	4	2	2	1	4	2	2
National Defense Offenses	1	2	2	1	3	2	3	1
Arson	1	2	2	0	0	2	3	1
Food and Drug Offenses	3	0	1	3	0	0	2	0
Gambling/Lottery	0	0	0	0	7	0	1	0
Antitrust Violations	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Civil Rights Offenses	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	1
Manslaughter	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kidnapping/Hostage Taking	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Offense type not known	2	9	12	2	5	3	0	0
All offenses	1,618	1,985	2,097	1,844	1,746	1,767	2,032	2,117

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFTYPE2). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by offense, FY2010 to FY2017

Offense	FY2010*	FY2011	FY2012	FY2013	FY2014	FY2015	FY2016	FY2017
Traffic Violations and Other Offenses	612	625	520	513	478	550	425	277
Drugs - Trafficking, Manufacturing, and Importing	413	379	397	340	274	215	242	209
Immigration	306	319	290	224	215	141	92	81
Fraud	211	219	187	178	200	169	175	151
Firearms	187	156	184	131	131	104	167	139
Larceny	100	92	75	66	68	42	65	54
Drugs - Simple Possession	47	50	50	36	38	56	77	74
Child Pornography	55	36	53	53	58	35	46	51
Racketeering/Extortion	9	37	21	22	24	24	19	20
Tax Offenses	23	22	11	19	17	11	13	13
Money Laundering	18	22	20	18	10	12	12	16
Administration of Justice	17	16	14	15	13	18	9	16
Assault	18	19	10	14	15	10	7	14
Sexual Abuse	8	6	11	8	14	10	24	17
Forgery/Counterfeiting	7	15	12	20	15	12	4	5
Embezzlement	12	7	10	4	5	13	12	18
Bribery	13	8	2	9	16	15	8	6
Prison Offenses	5	9	7	13	4	2	2	6
Robbery	2	6	7	7	7	5	4	1
National Defense Offenses	2	4	2	4	2	3	7	6
Auto Theft	3	9	2	2	1	1	0	0
Food and Drug Offenses	0	2	0	1	14	1	0	0
Kidnapping/Hostage Taking	0	0	4	0	5	4	1	3
Murder	1	3	2	1	1	3	0	1
Environmental, Game, Fish, and Wildlife Offenses	0	0	2	4	4	0	0	1
Gambling/Lottery	1	2	0	4	0	2	0	0
Drugs - Communication Facilities	2	1	0	0	0	2	1	2
Arson	0	1	3	0	1	0	1	0
Civil Rights Offenses	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Manslaughter	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Antitrust Violations	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Burglary/Breaking and Entering	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
All offenses	2,075	2,067	1,896	1,707	1,630	1,461	1,413	1,181

By the Commission's offense type for these years (OFFTYPSB). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

* A change in federal sentencing law took effect in this fiscal year (listed under the timeline).

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by offense, FY2025

Offense	People sentenced	Share
Drug Trafficking	227	26%
Other	141	16%
Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement	138	16%
Immigration	103	12%
Firearms	96	11%
Sex Abuse	34	4%
Child Pornography	31	4%
Robbery	21	2%
Money Launder	20	2%
Murder	10	1%
Administration of Justice	9	1%
Obscenity/Other Sex Offenses	9	1%
Bribery/Corruption	6	1%
Kidnapping	6	1%
National Defense	6	1%
Assault	5	1%
Environmental	4	1%
Tax	4	1%
Drug Possession	3	<1%
Burglary/Trespass	2	<1%
Commercialized Vice	2	<1%
Individual Rights	2	<1%
Prison Offenses	2	<1%
Stalking/Harassing	2	<1%
Forgery/Counter/Copyright	1	<1%

All 884 people sentenced, by the Commission's offense type (OFFGUIDE, by the primary guideline). Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by race and Hispanic origin, FY2025

Race and Hispanic origin	People sentenced	Of which placed by CrimeDB	Share
Black	428	12	48%
Hispanic	190	7	22%
White+MENA	185	7	21%
Asian+NHPI	24	4	3%
AIAN	5	1	1%
Race unknown	52	0	6%

All 884 people sentenced.

Hispanic is of any race; the other groups are not Hispanic. White+MENA includes Middle Eastern and North African people.

USSC recorded a race and no Hispanic origin for 31 people in FY2025: each keeps that race, and CrimeDB placed only their Hispanic origin, the lighter part.

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Of which placed by CrimeDB: the part of each group CrimeDB placed (race recorded without ethnicity: split by the source's own recorded Hispanic share of each race); the rest of each group is as USSC recorded it.

People sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia by criminal history category, FY2025

Criminal history category	People sentenced	Share
I	467	53%
II	127	14%
III	125	14%
IV	45	5%
V	35	4%
VI	60	7%
Category not known	25	3%

All 884 people sentenced.

The category the court found (XCRHISSR), I (least) to VI (most).

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Sentences in the Eastern District of Virginia against the guideline range, FY2025

Against the guideline range	People sentenced	Share
Within the range	469	53%
Above the range	24	3%
Below the range, government-sponsored	101	11%
Below the range, not government-sponsored	268	30%
Not known or not comparable	22	3%

All 884 people sentenced.

The Commission's four groups (SENTRNGE collapsed as its Sourcebook does).

Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, individual offender datafiles, counted by CrimeDB.

Pretrial release and detention in the Eastern District of Virginia, all cases (Table H-14)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	1,868	846	1,022	45.3%	54.7%
FY2007	2,143	941	1,202	43.9%	56.1%
FY2008	1,978	911	1,067	46.1%	53.9%
FY2009	1,863	820	1,043	44.0%	56.0%
FY2010	1,928	827	1,101	42.9%	57.1%
FY2011	1,976	912	1,064	46.2%	53.8%
FY2012	1,590	777	813	48.9%	51.1%
FY2013	1,490	661	829	44.4%	55.6%
FY2014	1,388	590	798	42.5%	57.5%
FY2015	1,297	521	776	40.2%	59.8%
FY2016	1,287	540	747	42.0%	58.0%
FY2017	1,263	537	726	42.5%	57.5%
FY2018	1,258	592	666	47.1%	52.9%
FY2019	1,407	735	672	52.2%	47.8%
FY2020	921	446	475	48.4%	51.6%
FY2021	834	392	442	47.0%	53.0%
FY2022	850	413	437	48.6%	51.4%
FY2023	696	350	346	50.3%	49.7%
FY2024	732	416	316	56.8%	43.2%
FY2025	779	425	354	54.6%	45.4%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.

Pretrial release and detention in the Eastern District of Virginia, excluding immigration cases (Table H-14A)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2006	1,813	801	1,012	44.2%	55.8%
FY2007	2,071	877	1,194	42.3%	57.7%
FY2008	1,872	830	1,042	44.3%	55.7%
FY2009	1,717	690	1,027	40.2%	59.8%
FY2010	1,747	654	1,093	37.4%	62.6%
FY2011	1,773	716	1,057	40.4%	59.6%
FY2012	1,422	612	810	43.0%	57.0%
FY2013	1,334	505	829	37.9%	62.1%
FY2014	1,252	457	795	36.5%	63.5%
FY2015	1,189	417	772	35.1%	64.9%
FY2016	1,212	465	747	38.4%	61.6%
FY2017	1,204	480	724	39.9%	60.1%
FY2018	1,068	402	666	37.6%	62.4%
FY2019	1,196	527	669	44.1%	55.9%
FY2020	833	361	472	43.3%	56.7%
FY2021	750	310	440	41.3%	58.7%
FY2022	781	345	436	44.2%	55.8%
FY2023	632	290	342	45.9%	54.1%
FY2024	677	362	315	53.5%	46.5%
FY2025	675	327	348	48.4%	51.6%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.

Pretrial release and detention in the Eastern District of Virginia, excluding illegal alien cases (Table H-14B)

Fiscal year	Cases opened	Detained	Released	Detained (%)	Released (%)
FY2022	723	290	433	40.1%	59.9%
FY2023	592	253	339	42.7%	57.3%
FY2024	647	336	311	51.9%	48.1%
FY2025	628	282	346	44.9%	55.1%

Source: U.S. Courts, Judicial Business Tables H-14, H-14A, and H-14B, as printed.