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# Fewer or More? Assault Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-trend-2016-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:32:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T01:48:17.000Z
- Description: Assault under Article 128 appeared in 333 Air Force courts-martial from 2016 to 2025. Its share of convictions was about the same at the end of the period as at the start: 11% in 2016–2018 and 12% in 2023–2025. In the middle years, the share was higher, reaching 27% in 2021.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 128, Air Force

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 128](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) › Air Force

**Short answer:** Assault under Article 128 appeared in 333 Air Force courts-martial from 2016 to 2025\. Its share of convictions was about the same at the end of the period as at the start: 11% in 2016–2018 and 12% in 2023–2025\. In the middle years, the share was higher, reaching 27% in 2021\. The median confinement in assault cases was 6 months, compared with 4 months across all Air Force cases.

Based on 333 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Higher Shares in the Middle Years

The records show 333 Air Force cases charging Article 128 between January 2016 and December 2025\. That is 12% of all 2,795 Air Force courts-martial in that period. The yearly count was 23 in 2016, 31 in 2017, 29 in 2018, 40 in 2019, 32 in 2020, 55 in 2021, 49 in 2022, 18 in 2023, 31 in 2024, and 25 in 2025.

Yearly counts change with the total number of cases, so the share of convictions is the more consistent measure. Convictions that included Article 128 made up 10% to 11% of Air Force convictions in 2016 through 2018\. The share was 14% in 2019, 17% in 2020, and 27% in 2021\. It was 22% in 2022, 11% in 2023, and 12% in both 2024 and 2025.

By period, Article 128 was part of 83 of 786 Air Force convictions in 2016–2018 (11%) and 57 of 494 in 2023–2025 (12%). The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so these figures count cases by the year they were tried.

| Year | Convictions incl. Art. 128 | All convictions with offenses listed | Share |
| ---- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ----- |
| 2016 | 23                         | 205                                  | 11%   |
| 2017 | 31                         | 294                                  | 11%   |
| 2018 | 29                         | 287                                  | 10%   |
| 2019 | 39                         | 271                                  | 14%   |
| 2020 | 31                         | 186                                  | 17%   |
| 2021 | 55                         | 202                                  | 27%   |
| 2022 | 46                         | 208                                  | 22%   |
| 2023 | 16                         | 152                                  | 11%   |
| 2024 | 21                         | 173                                  | 12%   |
| 2025 | 20                         | 169                                  | 12%   |

## Assault Was Usually Charged With Other Offenses

Only 120 of the 333 cases charged Article 128 by itself. The most common additional charges were Article 134, the general article, in 74 cases; Article 92 orders violations in 63; Article 120 sexual assault in 53; Article 112a drug offenses in 32; and Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) in 21.

When an assault charge is filed with a sexual assault or domestic violence charge, it often describes part of the same incident. The sentence in such a case covers everything the accused was convicted of, not the assault alone.

Air Force convictions that included Article 128, by year: 2016 23, 2017 31, 2018 29, 2019 39, 2020 31, 2021 55, 2022 46, 2023 16, 2024 21, 2025 20232016312017292018392019312020552021462022162023212024202025

Air Force convictions that included Article 128, by year

## Longer Confinement Than the Air Force Overall

Of the 333 cases, 318 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 278 of those sentences included confinement (87%). The median was 6 months, longer than the 4 months median Air Force-wide. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.5 years or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.

These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Sentences longer than one year were imposed in 91 of 318 convictions (29%), more often than the 23% across the rest of the Air Force. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 9% of convictions here, compared with 7% elsewhere in the service.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, the rest of the Air Force |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | -------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 40          | 13%        | 15%                              |
| Under 6 months                  | 131         | 41%        | 48%                              |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 56          | 18%        | 15%                              |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 63          | 20%        | 16%                              |
| 5 years or more                 | 28          | 9%         | 7%                               |

## General Versus Special Courts-Martial

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. General courts-martial made up 62% of these assault cases (207 of 333).

Sentences differed by court level. At general courts-martial, 91% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.2 years. At special courts-martial (126 cases), 82% did, with a median of 3 months.

## How Often Did a Discharge Follow?

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. One followed 62% of enlisted convictions in these cases: 126 bad-conduct and 59 dishonorable discharges. In the Air Force as a whole, the rate was 56%.

The records list 18 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 9 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## Pleas, Panels, and Judges

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 199 records that list a plea, 79 were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 120 were guilty pleas, so 40% were contested. In the rest of the Air Force, the contested share was 48%. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, which limits this count.

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Here a military judge alone heard 234 cases, enlisted panels 60, and officer panels 37\. Members heard 29% of assault cases, less often than the 39% across all Air Force cases. Among contested assault cases, members heard 56 of 79 (71%).

## Who Was Charged and Where

Junior enlisted members, E-1 to E-4, made up 64% of the accused, NCOs 30%, and officers 6%. Across the Air Force, junior enlisted members were 62% of the accused, about the same.

The 5 installations with the most of these cases were RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom (13), JBSA - Lackland, Texas (12), Hill AFB, Utah (11), Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona (10), and Holloman AFB, New Mexico (9). Together they account for 17% of the 333 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone says little about any one base.

## Rule Changes in These Years

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault and domestic violence. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new parameters.

Article 128 is not a covered offense, but special trial counsel who take a covered offense can also take a related assault. Both changes depend on the offense date, which the records do not give, so trials from 2024 on include both old-rule and new-rule cases. The changes in share described above happened in the same years as these rule changes. The records cannot show whether one caused the other.

## What the Records Do Not Show

Air Force records rarely list the charges in a case that ends in full acquittal, so this page reports no acquittal rate for assault. The records also omit plea agreements, the evidence, and offense dates. They cover only courts-martial, not nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 128 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?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 Article 128 (333 cases). The trend line uses convictions whose records list the offenses found, by trial year.

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 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub)
- [Army Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-trend-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Navy-Marine Corps Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-128-trend-2017-2025/) (another service)
- [Air Force Article 109 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-109-trend-2016-2025/)
- [Air Force Article 113 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-113-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Air Force Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-115-trend-2021-2025/)
- [What Sentence Follows an Air Force Assault Conviction?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-sent-2016-2025/)
- [Article 128 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**Compare: federal court.** [Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-aggravated-assault-vs-air-force/)

**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.