The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2016
The Air Force tried 249 courts-martial in 2016. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 46% of cases with charges listed, compared with 26% in the other services in 2016.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force tried 249 courts-martial in 2016. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 46% of cases with charges listed, compared with 26% in the other services in 2016. The median confinement was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months in the other services, and 44 cases (18%) ended in a full acquittal, compared with 15%.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Charge lists are available for 205 of the 249 cases. A case charging several articles is counted under each one. Among those 205 cases, Article 112a (drug) appeared in 94, or 46%. In the other services in 2016, the share was 26%.
Article 134 (general article) was also charged more often than in the other services: 27% compared with 12%. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) appeared in 16%, compared with 9%. Some charges were less common in the Air Force. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 11% of Air Force cases, compared with 38% in the other services. Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 7%, compared with 21%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the other services in 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 94 | 46% | 26% |
| Art. 134 General article | 55 | 27% | 12% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 32 | 16% | 9% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 25 | 12% | 11% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 23 | 11% | 38% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 23 | 11% | 6% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 20 | 10% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 15 | 7% | 21% |
Most Confinement Was Short
Of 205 convictions, 174 included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, and a quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer. In the other services in 2016, the median was 6 months.
Sentences under 6 months made up 44% of Air Force convictions, compared with 35% in the other services. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 20%, compared with 27%. Sentences of more than one year came in 41 of 205 convictions (20%), compared with 27%. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 7% in both groups.
These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the other services in 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 31 | 15% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 91 | 44% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 42 | 20% | 27% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 26 | 13% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 15 | 7% | 7% |
Sentences by Charge
Air Force records list charges mainly for convictions. The table below therefore shows conviction counts and median confinement for the most common charges, not conviction rates. Of 94 cases charging Article 112a, 93 ended in a conviction on that charge, with a median confinement of 4 months.
The median confinement was 1 year for Article 134 convictions and 11 months for Article 92 convictions. Article 121 (larceny) had 25 convictions, with a median of 4 months. Each median is the full sentence in cases where that charge was among the findings.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 94 | 93 | 4 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 55 | 53 | 1 year |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 32 | 32 | 11 months |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 25 | 25 | 4 months |
More Full Acquittals Than the Other Services
Of the 249 cases, 44 ended in a full acquittal (18%). The other services in 2016 recorded 15%.
This rate is measured against all cases, not only contested cases. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list the plea when the accused pleaded guilty. The usual measure, full acquittals among contested cases, therefore cannot be computed for this year.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial made up 47% of the cases (117 of 249). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Special courts-martial, capped at one year of confinement, heard 132 cases.
The median confinement was 1.1 years at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial.
Discharges and Dismissals
Of 194 convicted enlisted members, 105 received a punitive discharge: 65 bad-conduct and 40 dishonorable. In the other services in 2016, the share was 62%.
The year's convictions included 11 officers or warrant officers, and 9 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Who Decided Guilt, and Rank
A military judge alone decided guilt in 136 cases. An enlisted panel heard 49 cases and an officer panel 64, so members heard 45% of the year's cases. The accused usually chooses between a military judge and a panel.
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 65% of the accused, NCOs 29%, and officers 6%. In the other services in 2016, junior enlisted members made up 51%. The Air Force accused were more junior.
Installations
Peterson SFB, Colorado, and Ramstein AB, Germany, each tried 11 cases. FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, tried 9. Whiteman AFB, Missouri, and Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, tried 8 each. Together these 5 installations account for only 19% of the 249 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Rules in 2016 and Gaps in the Records
The records give trial dates, not offense dates, and do not describe the evidence. Air Force records rarely list charges in a full acquittal and never report plea agreements. In these years, they also rarely list a guilty plea. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included.
These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. Fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months, and written plea agreements did not apply to any case here.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every Air Force court-martial in the data with a trial date in 2016 (249 cases), compared with the other services in 2016 and with 2015.
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
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2017: Year in Review (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2018: Year in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2019: Year in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2020: Year in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2022: Year in Review
- How 2023 Went at Air Force Courts-Martial
- 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.