> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # When Air Force Accused Plead Guilty to Domestic Violence - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128b-plea-2016-2025/ - Published: 2026-10-28T06:33:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:04:42.000Z - Description: The records hold 60 Air Force courts-martial from 2016–2025 in which the accused pleaded guilty and the charges included Article 128b, domestic violence (numbered since 2019). - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 128b, Air Force [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 128b](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128b-courts-martial/) › When Air Force Accused Plead Guilty to D **Short answer:** The records hold 60 Air Force courts-martial from 2016–2025 in which the accused pleaded guilty and the charges included Article 128b, domestic violence (numbered since 2019). The median adjudged confinement was 7 months, compared with 4 months across all Air Force guilty pleas in those years. Of convicted enlisted members, 68% received a punitive discharge, compared with 60%. Based on 60 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Every Guilty Plea Here Included Confinement This post covers only Air Force cases that ended in a guilty plea where Article 128b was among the charges. In this group, all 60 convictions included confinement. Across all Air Force guilty pleas in the same years, 7% of convictions included no confinement. Here that share was 0%. The median sentence was 7 months, longer than the 4 months for Air Force guilty pleas generally. A quarter of the sentences in this group were 1.5 years or longer. These figures are adjudged sentences, meaning what was announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case, not the domestic violence charge alone. ## Sentences by Band Short sentences were less common here than across all guilty pleas. Sentences under 6 months made up 38% of these convictions, compared with 55% across all Air Force guilty pleas. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 33%, compared with 16%. Sentences longer than one year were also more common: 17 of 60 convictions (28%), compared with 22% for guilty pleas overall. Of those, 4 were 5 years or more. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force guilty pleas in those years | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | No confinement | 0 | 0% | 7% | | Under 6 months | 23 | 38% | 55% | | 6 months to 1 year | 20 | 33% | 16% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 13 | 22% | 17% | | 5 years or more | 4 | 7% | 5% | ## Cases Divided Evenly Between Court Levels There were 30 general courts-martial and 30 special courts-martial. The general share was 50%, higher than the 43% in all Air Force guilty pleas. Court level matters because 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. Sentences differed by court level. The median confinement was 1.4 years at general courts-martial and 4 months at special courts-martial. ## Discharges for Enlisted Members and Officers A punitive discharge followed 68% of enlisted convictions in this group: 29 bad-conduct discharges and 10 dishonorable discharges. Across all Air Force guilty pleas, the share was 60%. A punitive discharge is the bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge a court can adjudge for enlisted members. For officers, the equivalent is a dismissal. The records show 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 2 of them were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track. ## Why the Cases Start in 2020 The period runs from 2016 through 2025, but the first case in this group was tried in March 2020 and the last in November 2025\. There were 9 cases in 2020, 7 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 12 in 2023, 14 in 2024, and 12 in 2025. 2 facts explain the absence of earlier cases. Article 128b covers only offenses on or after January 1, 2019, so earlier conduct of this kind was charged under other articles. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 also rarely list a guilty plea, so few guilty pleas from those years can be identified. ## Other Charges in These Cases Only 21 of the 60 cases charged Article 128b by itself. The other cases included at least one more article. Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) appeared in 16 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 13, Article 134 (the general article) in 9, Article 128 (assault) in 8, and Article 112a (drug offenses) in 4. The sentence covers every charge. A case that included other offenses may therefore have a longer sentence than the domestic violence charge alone would have produced. The records do not break sentences down by charge. ## Rank, Forum, and Installations By rank, the group included 39 junior enlisted members, 18 NCOs, and 3 officers. That rank makeup is similar to Air Force guilty pleas as a whole. A military judge alone decided all 60 cases, which is typical of guilty pleas. Members heard 0% of them, the same as across all Air Force guilty pleas. The installations with the most of these cases were Offutt AFB, Nebraska (4), Tinker AFB, Oklahoma (3), Fairchild AFB, Washington (3), JB Langley-Eustis, Virginia (3), and Scott AFB, Illinois (3). Together they account for 27% of the 60 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count does not by itself point to a problem at any base. ## Rule Changes During the Period Article 128b is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both changes depend on the offense date, which these records do not give. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both the old and new rules. The records cannot show whether either change affected the sentences here. ## What the Records Leave Out These are cases that reached a court-martial. Matters resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence. Air Force records never report plea agreements, so the terms of any agreement that applied to these sentences are not shown. For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 128b on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-128b-domestic-violence/?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: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 128b (domestic violence) (60 cases), compared with all Air Force guilty pleas in those years. 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 128b (Domestic Violence, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128b-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub) - [Air Force Article 128b Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128b-trend-2016-2025/) - [Article 128b Sentences in the Air Force: Confinement and Discharges, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128b-sent-2016-2025/) - [Guilty Pleas in Army Domestic Violence Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128b-plea-2021-2025/) (another service) - [When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Domestic Violence](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-128b-plea-2017-2025/) (another service) - [Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-120b-plea-2016-2025/) - [Article 128b explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-128b-domestic-violence/?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.