Will Hunter Biden go to prison?

Hunter Biden is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to tax charges.

On Thursday he admitted that he intentionally avoided paying $1.4m (£1m) in income tax from 2016 to 2019.

It is his second conviction in months. In June, Biden was found guilty at trial of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun – becoming the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime.

Could he go to prison?

When will he be sentenced?

Biden faces up to 17 years in prison when he is sentenced on 16 December for the tax offences.

Following any federal criminal conviction, the convict is interviewed by a US federal probation officer who will file an independent, confidential pre-sentencing report to the judge.

Donald Trump went through the same interview process in June after he was convicted of falsifying business records in New York.

Judges have wide discretion when it comes to issuing sentences.

Federal guidelines exist to help steer judge’s determinations, but they are strictly advisory, meaning the judge can ultimately do whatever they want.

Will Hunter Biden go to prison?

Manny Medrano, a former federal prosecutor who now works as a criminal defence attorney in Los Angeles, says that he expects Biden will be jailed.

He comes to that view because the tax flouting scheme was over three or four years and it amounted to $1.4m in taxes that he avoided paying.

Ever since late disgraced financier Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009 for one of the biggest frauds in US financial history, white collar criminals have been seeing their sentences grow longer, he says.

“So in the vast majority of white-collar cases now, federal prison time results for a defendant,” says Mr Medrano, who has both prosecuted and defended clients in similar cases of tax avoidance.

Mr Medrano estimates that, based on similar cases, the judge will sentence Biden to two to four years.

How might gun case affect the sentence length?

In June, Biden was found guilty by a jury in Delaware of three federal gun charges for lying about his drug use on a background check form to purchase a handgun.

He is due to be sentenced on those charges on 13 November, and faces up to 25 years in prison.

Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor, says the sentencing timeline will be a major determining factor in how the judges decide what punishment he will receive.

Biden has no previous criminal record, which the judge will consider in his first sentencing hearing. The lack of any prior “rap sheet” means the judge will be more likely to show him leniency.

But at the second sentencing in December, the judge will have to consider Biden’s prior criminal conviction on gun charges in June.

Sentencing guidelines indicate that harsher sentences are normally given to convicts who have committed other crimes in the past.

Harsher sentences are also given to convicts following criminal trials that go to jury. Those that plead guilty are normally shown more leniency during sentencing, says Mr Medrano.

Could he be pardoned by his father?

Hunter Biden’s father, US President Joe Biden, has the power to pardon him for his two federal convictions.

However, Mr Biden has repeatedly pledged not to interfere during the final days of his presidency.

A spokeswoman for the White House on Thursday repeated Mr Biden’s pledge not to pardon his son.

But Ms Krissoff thinks it could be hard to resist.

“We see this all the time. Presidents get to the end of the term and they say: ‘You know, oh heck forget it’,” she says.

The only repercussion that the president would face would be political, which is less relevant given that Mr Biden is now no longer running for a second term.

“I mean he’s 81. Like, what’s he got to lose?” she says. “At the end of the day, you take care of your kid.”