Air Force Courts-Martial in 2020: Year in Review
The Air Force tried 257 courts-martial in 2020, compared with 346 in 2019. Contested cases made up 48%, compared with 33% in the other services in 2020. Of 107 contested cases that reached a verdict, 62 ended in a full acquittal (58%), compared with 35% in the other services.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force tried 257 courts-martial in 2020, compared with 346 in 2019. Contested cases made up 48%, compared with 33% in the other services in 2020. Of 107 contested cases that reached a verdict, 62 ended in a full acquittal (58%), compared with 35% in the other services. Among 188 convictions, the median confinement was 4 months.
Pleas Are Recorded From 2020
For 2016 through 2019, Air Force records rarely list a guilty plea, so the contested share could not be measured. The 2020 records list a plea in 226 of 257 cases: 117 guilty pleas and 109 contested cases. A contested case is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge.
The contested share was 48%, higher than the 33% in the other services in 2020.
How Contested Cases Ended
Of 107 contested cases that reached a verdict, 62 ended in a full acquittal (58%). The other services in 2020 recorded 35%.
Another 16 contested cases (15%) ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it. That figure may be incomplete.
Who Decided Guilt
Of 252 cases with the forum listed, a military judge alone decided guilt in 165 (65%). Members decided 87: 52 enlisted panels and 35 officer panels. Members heard most contested cases: 87 of 109 (80%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the overall split mostly follows how many cases were contested.
Full acquittals came in 53 of 86 contested cases decided by members (62%) and 9 of 21 contested cases decided by a military judge alone (43%). The accused usually chooses who decides guilt, so these groups of cases are not alike. The difference is not a direct comparison of military judges and panels.
Almost Every Conviction Included Confinement
Of 188 convictions, 174 included confinement (93%). Only 14 convictions (7%) had none, compared with 15% in the other services. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months in the other services. A quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer.
Sentences under 6 months made up 60% of Air Force convictions, compared with 36% in the other services. More than one year came in 37 of 188 convictions (20%), compared with 26%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the other services in 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 14 | 7% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 112 | 60% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 25 | 13% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 28 | 15% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 9 | 5% | 6% |
Drug Charges Were Still the Most Common
Charge lists are available for 186 of the 257 cases, and a case can be counted under more than one article. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 51%, compared with 30% in the other services in 2020. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 22%, compared with 13%. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 17%, compared with 36%. Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 7%, compared with 16%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the other services in 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 94 | 51% | 30% |
| Art. 134 General article | 40 | 22% | 13% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 32 | 17% | 36% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 29 | 16% | 17% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 15 | 8% | 7% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 14 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 14 | 8% | 9% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 13 | 7% | 16% |
Sentences for the Most Common Charges
The median confinement was 10 months for Article 134 convictions, 5 months for Article 128 convictions, 4 months for Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) convictions, and 3 months for Article 112a convictions. Of 94 cases charging Article 112a, 93 ended in a conviction on that charge. Air Force records list charges mainly for convictions, so these figures are counts and sentences, not conviction rates.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 94 | 93 | 3 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 40 | 40 | 10 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 32 | 31 | 5 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 29 | 29 | 4 months |
Compared With 2019
The number of cases was 346 in 2019 and 257 in 2020. The median confinement was 4 months in both years. The share of convictions with confinement was 85% and then 93%. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 57% and then 50%. With groups this size, a few cases can change a percentage, so these changes show direction more than precise size. The records do not show why there were fewer cases.
| 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 346 | 257 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 48% |
| Convictions with confinement | 85% | 93% |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 57% | 50% |
| General courts-martial | 50% | 51% |
Court Level and Punitive Discharges
General courts-martial tried 130 cases, and special courts-martial tried 127. The general court-martial share was 51%, compared with 48% in the other services. At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1 year, and 63% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 2 months, and 31% were contested.
Of 177 convicted enlisted members, 88 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (50%), compared with 62% in the other services. Of those 88, 33 were dishonorable. Of 11 convicted officers or warrant officers, 6 were dismissed.
Rank, Installations, and Limits of the Records
The accused included 169 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 67 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 21 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more junior than the other services in 2020, where 62% were junior enlisted.
Ramstein AB, Germany, tried 13 cases. Nellis AFB, Nevada, and JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, tried 11 each. Dyess AFB, Texas, tried 10, and Shaw AFB, South Carolina, tried 9. Together they account for 21% of the year's cases.
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. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included.
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 2020 (257 cases), compared with the other services in 2020 and with 2019.
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 2019: Year in Review (previous / next)
- The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2021 (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2017: Year in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2018: 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.