How Air Force Sexual Assault Cases Ended in 2016

Trends › By Offense › Article 120 › Air Force, 2016

Based on 15 cases · 2016 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Almost All Were Tried at the Highest Court Level

14 of the 15 cases were general courts-martial and 1 was a special court-martial. The general share was 93%. In all Air Force cases in 2016, it was 47%.

The court level sets the limits on punishment. Only a general court-martial may sentence an accused to more than one year of confinement or to a dishonorable discharge. At a special court-martial, the most confinement allowed is one year, and the most severe discharge is a bad-conduct discharge.

Confinement in 2016

12 of the 15 sentences included confinement. The median confinement was 3 years. For all Air Force cases in 2016, the median was 4 months.

Each figure is the sentence adjudged at trial. Later steps can reduce it: a plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal. A sentence also covers every charge in the case. When Article 120 was charged with other offenses, the sentence includes punishment for those offenses too.

Discharges for Enlisted Members

73% of the enlisted convictions included a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, compared with 54% across the Air Force in 2016. 10 were dishonorable discharges and 1 was a bad-conduct discharge. These are the punitive discharges a court-martial can give an enlisted member.

An enlisted member sentenced without one can still be separated later through an administrative process. The records do not show what happened to these members after trial.

Members Decided Most of These Cases

In most cases the accused picks the forum: a military judge alone, or a panel of members. Members heard 11 of the 15 cases, 7 with enlisted panels and 4 with officer panels. A military judge alone decided 4 (27%).

Guilty pleas are seldom recorded in Air Force records from 2016 to 2019. For that reason, the share of these cases that were contested cannot be measured.

Who Was Charged?

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 67% of the accused and NCOs made up 33%. There were 0 officers. Across all Air Force cases in 2016, junior enlisted members were 65%, about the same as here.

Other Charges in the Same Case

In 9 of the 15 cases, Article 120 stood alone. Article 128 (assault) was the most common added charge, in 4 cases. Next came Article 134 (general article) in 3 and Article 121 (larceny) in 2. Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 1 case each.

The Law at the Time, and What the Records Leave Out

The Military Justice Act of 2016 did not take effect until January 1, 2019, after all of these trials. Its fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial, and written plea agreements played no part here. Article 120 itself has had several versions: a 2012 rewrite and a later amendment for offenses on or after January 1, 2019. The version that applies depends on the offense date, which the records do not give.

No acquittal rate appears on this page, because Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal. Plea agreements are never reported. The evidence is not described, and conduct handled outside a court-martial is not counted.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 120 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Sexual Abuse of an Adult: 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.