How 2025 Went at Air Force Courts-Martial
The Air Force records list 218 courts-martial for 2025. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 21% of them, compared with 6% in the other services in 2025. Of cases with a plea recorded, 41% were contested, compared with 28% in the other services.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force records list 218 courts-martial for 2025. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 21% of them, compared with 6% in the other services in 2025. Of cases with a plea recorded, 41% were contested, compared with 28% in the other services.
Drug Charges Were More Common Than in the Other Services
Charge lists are available for 210 of the 218 cases. A case is counted under every article it charges. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 21% of Air Force cases, compared with 6% in the other services in 2025. Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 14%, compared with 8%.
Article 128 (assault) was the only common charge that appeared less often in the Air Force: 12% of cases, compared with 18%. Article 134 (general article) was the most common Air Force charge, at 23%, about the same as the 22% in the other services. Article 107 (false official statements) appeared in 8% of cases.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the other services in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 48 | 23% | 22% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 45 | 21% | 6% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 35 | 17% | 15% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 34 | 16% | 19% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 29 | 14% | 8% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 25 | 12% | 18% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 19 | 9% | 6% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 16 | 8% | 6% |
Pleas and Verdicts
Pleas are recorded for 173 of the 218 cases. Of those, 71 were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 102 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 41%. The other services in 2025 had a contested share of 28%. A contested case is one with a not-guilty plea to at least one charge.
Of the 71 contested cases that reached a verdict, 45% ended in a full acquittal. That is higher than the 34% in the other services in 2025. Another 2 were recorded as partial acquittals. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it.
Who Decided Guilt
A military judge alone decided 162 cases, enlisted panels 43, and officer panels 13. Members heard 26% of all cases and 56 of 71 contested cases (79%).
In contested cases, members returned a full acquittal 43% of the time and military judges 53% of the time. The accused usually chooses who decides guilt, so the groups of cases are not alike.
Sentences Adjudged
Of 176 convictions on at least one charge, 154 included confinement (88%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6-month median in the other services in 2025. A quarter of sentences were 1.6 years or longer. These are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in a case.
Sentences longer than one year were more common than in the other services: 47 of 176 convictions (27%), compared with 24%. Sentences of 5 years or more came in 20 convictions (11%), compared with 9%. No confinement was imposed in 22 convictions (12%), compared with 25% in the other services in 2025.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the other services in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 22 | 12% | 25% |
| Under 6 months | 75 | 43% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 32 | 18% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 27 | 15% | 15% |
| 5 years or more | 20 | 11% | 9% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at one year. The Air Force held 112 general and 106 special courts-martial in 2025. The general court-martial share was 51%, compared with 53% in the other services in 2025.
At general courts-martial, 92% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.3 years. At special courts-martial, 83% did, with a median of 2 months.
Sentences for the Most Common Charges
Air Force charge lists come mainly from cases that ended in a conviction. This table therefore gives conviction counts and sentences, not conviction rates. The median confinement was 1 year for Article 134 convictions, 9 months for Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) convictions, 3 months for Article 92 convictions, and 2 months for Article 112a convictions.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 48 | 42 | 1 year |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 45 | 38 | 2 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 35 | 31 | 3 months |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 34 | 28 | 9 months |
Discharges and Dismissals
Of 161 enlisted members convicted, 97 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (60%). That is about the same as in the other services in 2025 (61%). Of those discharges, 44 were dishonorable. Of 15 convicted officers or warrant officers, 9 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Rank and Installations
The accused included 131 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 70 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 17 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more junior than the other services in 2025, where 55% were junior enlisted.
JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (8), JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey (7), Robins AFB, Georgia (6), Kadena AB, Japan (6), and Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina (6), tried the most cases. Together they account for 15% of the 218 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Compared With 2024, and the New Rules
The number of cases was 225 in 2024 and 218 in 2025. The contested share was 45% and then 41%. Full acquittals were 42 of 88 contested cases with a verdict and then 32 of 71. The median confinement was 5 months and then 6 months. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 62% and then 60%. In small groups, a few cases can change these figures.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence. These records do not include offense dates, so 2025 trials include cases under both sets of rules. The records cannot show what either rule changed.
The records also do not include the evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations. Air Force records rarely list charges in a full acquittal.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 225 | 218 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 45% | 41% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 42 of 88 | 32 of 71 |
| Convictions with confinement | 83% | 88% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 62% | 60% |
| General courts-martial | 57% | 51% |
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 2025 (218 cases), compared with the other services in 2025 and with 2024.
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)
- The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2024 (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 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.