What Sentence Follows an Air Force Military Property Conviction?

Trends › By Offense › Article 108 › What Sentence Follows a Air Force milita

Based on 12 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Confinement in 11 of 12 Sentences

Of the 12 convictions, 11 carried confinement. The median confinement was 6 months. Across all Air Force convictions in those years, the median was 4 months.

A quarter of the confinement terms were 1 year or longer. These are adjudged sentences, the sentence as announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case, not only Article 108.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

Among 12 enlisted members convicted, 9 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (75%). For all Air Force convictions in those years, the rate was 56%. 1 of the 9 was a dishonorable discharge.

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Larceny and Orders Violations Charged Most Often With It

Article 108 was the only charge in 1 of the 12 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 121 (larceny) each appeared in 5. Article 109 (property damage), Article 128 (assault), and Article 112a (drug) each appeared in 2.

Who Decided Guilt

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. In these 12 cases, a military judge alone decided 10, an enlisted panel decided 1, and an officer panel decided 1. Members heard 17% of the cases, compared with 28% of all Air Force convictions in those years.

Rank and Court Level

9 of the accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 3 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 0 were officers or warrant officers. The mix was more junior than all Air Force convictions in those years, where 66% were junior enlisted.

General courts-martial made up 42% of these cases (5 of 12), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year.

A Gap in the Yearly Counts

The 12 trials ran from February 2016 to July 2025. The records show 4 in 2016 and 3 in 2017, then 0 each year from 2018 through 2022, then 2 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 1 in 2025. The records do not show why no convictions appear in those middle years.

Earlier and Later Rules

The 2016 and 2017 trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. Under that act, plea agreements are written, panels have fixed sizes, and a judge-alone special court-martial is capped at six months with no punitive discharge.

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so the rules behind the 2024 and 2025 trials are not known.

Outside the Records

Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence, and Air Force records never report plea agreements.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.