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# Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Charged Under Article 120c in the Air Force
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-120c-junior-enlisted/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:19:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:13:43.000Z
- Description: The Air Force tried 32 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) under Article 120c, indecent recording and exposure, from 2016–2025. Only 24% of those with a recorded plea contested the charges, compared with 35% for all Air Force Article 120c cases.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 120c, Air Force

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 120c](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-120c-courts-martial/) › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

**Short answer:** The Air Force tried 32 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) under Article 120c, indecent recording and exposure, from 2016–2025\. Only 24% of those with a recorded plea contested the charges, compared with 35% for all Air Force Article 120c cases. The median confinement was 1.5 years, close to the 1.6 years for all Air Force Article 120c cases.

Based on 32 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Fewer Contested Cases Than the Offense Overall

17 of the 32 records list a plea. Of those, 13 accused pleaded guilty and 4 contested at least one charge by pleading not guilty in full or in part. The contested share was 24%, lower than the 35% for all Air Force Article 120c cases.

Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea. The share is therefore based on those 17 records alone and could be different if the missing pleas were known. With counts this small, 1 or 2 cases would change the percentage noticeably.

## Few Cases Were Heard by Members

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone decided 27 of the 32 cases (84%). Members heard 5: 3 officer panels and 2 enlisted panels.

Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the high judge-alone share follows the low contested share.

## Confinement Was Often Measured in Years

All 32 cases ended with a conviction on at least one charge, and 29 of those sentences included confinement (91%). The median confinement was 1.5 years, slightly shorter than the 1.6 years for the offense as a whole. A quarter of terms were 5.4 years or longer.

18 of 32 convictions (56%) were sentenced to more than one year, about the same as the 54% for all Air Force Article 120c cases. 10 convictions (31%) were sentenced to more than 1 year and under 5 years. 8 (25%) were sentenced to 5 years or more, the same share as all Air Force Article 120c cases. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force Article 120c cases |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 3           | 9%         | 9%                                      |
| Under 6 months                  | 4           | 12%        | 12%                                     |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 7           | 22%        | 25%                                     |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 10          | 31%        | 29%                                     |
| 5 years or more                 | 8           | 25%        | 25%                                     |

## Other Charges in the Same Cases

Article 120c was the only charge in 10 of the 32 cases. Across all Air Force Article 120c cases, 21 of 56 charged it alone. The other cases included other articles, and a sentence covers every charge in the case.

Article 120, sexual assault, was the most common other charge, in 11 cases. The general article, Article 134, was charged in 8, Article 117a (intimate image) in 4, Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) in 4, and Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) in 2.

## Punitive Discharges for 81%

81% of convictions included a punitive discharge, about the same as the 79% for the offense overall. There were 16 dishonorable discharges and 10 bad-conduct discharges.

Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial

General courts-martial heard 23 of the 32 cases (72%), slightly lower than the 80% for all Air Force Article 120c cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.

Junior enlisted members were 57% of the accused in all Air Force Article 120c cases, so they are the larger rank group for this offense. The general court-martial share here was slightly lower than for the offense as a whole, but the median sentence was about the same.

## A Small Number of Cases Each Year

The 32 cases were tried between May 2016 and August 2025\. No year had more than 5\. There were 3 cases in 2016, 2 in 2017, 4 in 2018, 5 in 2019, 2 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 3 in 2025.

Kadena AB, Japan, tried 3 cases. Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, each tried 2\. These 5 bases account for 34% of the cases. No installation tried more than 3.

## Rule Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. Article 120c is also a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute it. Military judges set the sentence when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023\. Each change depends on offense dates, which the records do not give.

This page gives no acquittal rate, because Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal. The records also do not show the evidence, plea terms, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 120c on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-120c/?ref=bodiesburied.com). Dates and sources for the law changes: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Air Force courts-martial tried 2016–2025 that charged junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) under Article 120c (32 cases), compared with every Air Force Article 120c case.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 120c (Other Sexual Misconduct): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-120c-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Army Indecent Recording And Exposure Cases Against Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Outcomes and Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-120c-junior-enlisted/)
- [What Happens to Army NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Facing Indecent Recording And Exposure Charges?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-120c-ncos/)
- [What Happens to Air Force NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Facing Indecent Recording And Exposure Charges?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-120c-ncos/)
- [Fewer or More? Indecent Recording And Exposure Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-120c-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Fewer or More? Indecent Recording And Exposure Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-120c-trend-2016-2025/)
- [Article 120c explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-120c/?ref=bodiesburied.com)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.