How Has Article 87a Changed in Air Force Courts-Martial Since 2016?
A military judge alone decided all 16 Air Force courts-martial from 2016–2025 that charged Article 87a (resisting apprehension, numbered since 2019). Most accused pleaded guilty: 20% of cases with a plea recorded were contested, compared with 48% across all Air Force cases in those years.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 87a › Air Force
Short answer: A military judge alone decided all 16 Air Force courts-martial from 2016–2025 that charged Article 87a (resisting apprehension, numbered since 2019). Most accused pleaded guilty: 20% of cases with a plea recorded were contested, compared with 48% across all Air Force cases in those years. A punitive discharge followed 21% of enlisted convictions, compared with 56%.
No Panels in Any Case
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. In every one of these 16 cases, a military judge alone decided. No enlisted or officer panel heard a case.
Guilty Pleas in 12 of 15 Recorded Cases
The plea is listed in 15 of the 16 records. Of those, 12 accused pleaded guilty and 3 contested at least one charge. A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 20%, lower than the 48% across all Air Force cases in those years.
Always Charged With Something Else
None of the 16 cases charged Article 87a by itself. Article 113 (misbehavior of a sentinel before 2019; drunken or reckless driving since) appeared in 9 cases. Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 6. Article 112a (drug) and Article 92 (orders violation) each appeared in 5, and Article 128 (assault) in 4.
Fewer Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge followed 21% of enlisted convictions: 2 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. Across the whole Air Force, the share was 56%. The group also includes 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 of them was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Confinement
Of 16 convictions, 15 carried confinement. The median was 4 months, the same as in the rest of the Air Force. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 7 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
General courts-martial made up 25% of these cases (4 of 16). Special courts-martial heard the rest. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year.
First Case in October 2019
The records hold no case from 2016 through 2018. From October 2019 to September 2025, there were 16: 1 in 2019, 2 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 1 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. They are 1% of the 2,795 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
A Larger Share of Convictions
Among Air Force convictions with the offenses listed, Article 87a was part of 0 of 786 in 2016–2018 (0%) and 7 of 494 in 2023–2025 (1%), a larger share. The yearly count reached 4 in both 2021 and 2023.
| Year | Convictions incl. Art. 87a | All convictions with offenses listed | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0 | 205 | 0% |
| 2017 | 0 | 294 | 0% |
| 2018 | 0 | 287 | 0% |
| 2019 | 1 | 271 | 0% |
| 2020 | 2 | 186 | 1% |
| 2021 | 4 | 202 | 2% |
| 2022 | 2 | 208 | 1% |
| 2023 | 4 | 152 | 3% |
| 2024 | 1 | 173 | 1% |
| 2025 | 2 | 169 | 1% |
Rank of the Accused
The accused were 11 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 3 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 2 officers or warrant officers. In the rest of the Air Force, 62% were junior enlisted.
Limits
The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show whether the 2019 or 2023 rule changes applied to a case. Air Force records never report plea agreements, and from 2016 to 2019 they rarely list a guilty plea. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and the evidence are not included.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial tried 2016–2025 that charged Article 87a (16 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, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 87a (Resisting Apprehension, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Offense (hub)
- Fewer or More? Resisting Apprehension Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (another service)
- Fewer or More? Resisting Apprehension Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025 (another service)
- Air Force Article 109 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025
- Air Force Article 113 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Air Force Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- What Sentence Follows an Air Force Resisting Apprehension Conviction?
- Search every case in 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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.