Why the numbers you find will not fit
How these offenses are labeled and ranked is a matter of state law, and the same conduct can be charged federally in some circumstances. What is charged at the time of arrest is frequently not how the case ends, because early charging decisions are made on incomplete information and get revisited. How the charge is graded, what the evidence is said to support, prior record, and whether the matter is negotiated or tried all pull in different directions. A range copied from a statute or from a news article describes a category of cases, not the person your family is worried about.
Consequences that are not measured in time
Registration and reporting requirements exist in every state, and whether they apply in a given case depends on the offense and the jurisdiction. Beyond that there are effects on housing, employment, professional licensing, and travel, and for people who are not citizens there can be immigration consequences as well. These typically extend far past any custodial portion of a sentence. That is why they belong in the conversation from the first meeting rather than at the end, when a resolution is already on the table and there is no time to weigh them.
What families usually need to do first
Get the actual charging documents and case numbers rather than working from what relatives have relayed, and find out whether the matter is in state or federal court. Assume calls from a detention facility are recorded and that the case should not be discussed on them. Nobody in the family should contact the complaining witness, directly or through another person, because that creates a second problem alongside the first. In a first conversation we go through what is alleged, what evidence is time sensitive, and what the next court date is actually deciding.
