How Air Force Drug Cases Ended in 2018
The Air Force tried 134 drug courts-martial in 2018. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 4 months for all Air Force cases in 2018. 51% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, higher than the 42% in 2017 but lower than the 58% Air Force-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 112a › Air Force, 2018
Short answer: The Air Force tried 134 drug courts-martial in 2018. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 4 months for all Air Force cases in 2018. 51% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, higher than the 42% in 2017 but lower than the 58% Air Force-wide.
Punitive Discharges Were More Common Than in 2017
The largest change from 2017 was in punitive discharges. A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge adjudged by the court-martial. In 2018, 66 of 130 convicted enlisted members received one: 63 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. That is 51%, compared with 42% in 2017.
The rate for drug cases was still lower than the 58% for all Air Force cases. For officers, the equivalent is a dismissal. 2 of the 4 convicted officers or warrant officers were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.
| 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 153 | 134 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 80% | 84% |
| Median confinement | 3 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 42% | 51% |
| General courts-martial | 16% | 13% |
Other Measures Changed Little
There were 153 cases in 2017 and 134 in 2018. The median confinement was 3 months in both years. The share of convictions with confinement was 80% in 2017 and 84% in 2018. The share tried at a general court-martial was 16% in 2017 and 13% in 2018. In groups of this size, a few cases can change any of these figures.
How Long Were the Sentences?
94 convictions (70%) were sentenced to under 6 months of confinement, compared with 48% for all Air Force cases in 2018. 15 convictions (11%) were sentenced to 6 months to 1 year, and 21 (16%) had no confinement.
Only 4 of 134 convictions (3%) were sentenced to more than one year, compared with 20% across the Air Force. None was sentenced to 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences: the sentence imposed at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, for all charges together.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force cases in 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 21 | 16% | 18% |
| Under 6 months | 94 | 70% | 48% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 15 | 11% | 13% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 3% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 8% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
The court level sets the maximum punishment. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. 116 of these 134 cases were special courts-martial and 18 were general courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 13%, compared with 50% in all Air Force cases in 2018.
In the general courts-martial, 89% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 7 months. In the special courts-martial, 84% included confinement, and the median was 2 months.
Most drug cases in 2018 were tried at the court level with the lower maximum. No special court-martial sentence can include more than one year of confinement.
Most Cases Were Decided Without a Panel
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone decided 82 of these cases. Members heard the rest: 50 officer panels and 1 enlisted panel.
Members heard 38% of the cases, lower than the 48% for all Air Force cases in 2018. The records for this period rarely list guilty pleas, so the number of contested cases cannot be measured.
An enlisted accused can ask for enlisted members on the panel. That happened in only 1 of these drug cases in 2018.
Other Charges and Rank of the Accused
Article 112a was the only charge in 96 of the 134 cases. The most common other charges were Article 134 (general article) in 14 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 13, Article 107 (false official statement) in 10, Article 86 (AWOL) in 8, and Article 111 (drunken or reckless driving) in 5.
The accused were 102 junior enlisted members, 28 NCOs, and 4 officers. This group is more junior than all Air Force cases in 2018.
Installations
Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, tried 10 of these cases. Nellis AFB, Nevada, and Holloman AFB, New Mexico, each tried 8. Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, tried 7, and Moody AFB, Georgia, tried 6. These bases account for 29% of the total, and the other cases were tried at many other installations. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with this offense.
Before the 2019 Changes, and What the Records Do Not Show
All of these trials were held before January 1, 2019. On that date the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. It created judge-alone special courts-martial, set fixed panel sizes, and required written plea agreements.
The records show only what happened at trial. They do not give offense dates, the evidence, or plea terms. Drug cases handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation do not appear. Air Force records rarely list the charges in cases that end in a full acquittal, so this page reports no acquittal rate.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 112a on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in 2018 that charged Article 112a (134 cases), compared with all Air Force cases that year and with 2017.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Air Force Article 112a Cases in 2017 (previous / next)
- Drug at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2019: The Year in Numbers (previous / next)
- Are Air Force Drug Courts-Martial Disappearing? Article 112a, 2016–2025 (the full trend)
- Air Force Article 112a Cases in 2021
- Air Force Article 112a Cases in 2022
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Air Force?
- S3 E52: What You Need to Know About Positive UAs in the Military (podcast, members)
- Article 112a explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Compare: federal court. Drug Use: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025 · Drug Distribution: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
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.