Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2025: The Month in Review

Trends › By Year › August 2025

Based on 22 cases · August 2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Confinement in Every Conviction

All 16 convictions in August 2025 included confinement. The median confinement was 1.1 years, higher than the 6 months for the Air Force over 2025. A quarter of the terms were 6.4 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers all the charges in its case. Time actually served can differ.

Violent and Sexual Offenses Among the Charges

Charges are listed for 21 of the 22 cases, and an article counts once per case. Domestic violence under Article 128b appeared in 5 cases (24%), compared with 16% for the year. The general article, Article 134, also appeared in 5 cases (24%), compared with 23%.

Each of the following appeared in 4 cases (19%): Article 120 (rape and sexual assault), Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child), Article 128 (assault), and Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation). Their annual shares were 14%, 9%, 12%, and 17%. Article 120c, other sexual misconduct, appeared in 2 cases (10%), compared with 3%. False official statements under Article 107 appeared in 1 case (5%), lower than the annual 8%.

Air Force records rarely list the charges in a case that ends in a full acquittal. These shares therefore mostly describe cases with at least one conviction.

Pleas and Full Acquittals

The plea is recorded in 18 of the 22 cases. There were 10 guilty pleas and 8 contested cases, in which the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 44%, slightly higher than the 41% for the year.

Of the 8 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal. In those 4 cases, the accused was acquitted of all charges.

Punitive Discharges at the Annual Rate

Of 15 convicted enlisted members, 9 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (60%). The rate for the Air Force in 2025 was also 60%. Of those 9 discharges, 6 were dishonorable. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge.

The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

More General Courts-Martial

Of the 22 cases, 13 were general courts-martial (59%), compared with 51% for the year. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The accused were 12 junior enlisted members, 8 NCOs, and 2 officers. That group was more senior than the accused across the Air Force in 2025.

Who Decided Guilt?

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone decided 16 cases. Enlisted panels decided 3 cases, and officer panels decided 3. Members heard 27% of the cases, about the same as the 26% for the year.

Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas. The split between judges and members therefore mostly follows how many cases were contested.

Compared With August 2024

August 2024 had 21 cases, and August 2025 had 22. The contested share went from 31% to 44%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 3 of 5 to 4 of 8.

Convictions with confinement went from 93% to 100%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 1.1 years. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 71% to 60%. The general court-martial share went from 62% to 59%. Groups this small can change by a large amount with a few cases, so these comparisons show direction rather than precise size.

Where the Cases Were Tried

Spangdahlem AB, Germany, Misawa AB, Japan, and Eielson AFB, Alaska, each tried 2 cases. Yokota AB, Japan, and JB Langley-Eustis, Virginia, tried 1 each. Together they account for 36% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

Rule Changes and Limits of the Records

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault and domestic violence. Both offenses appear in this month's charges. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, a military judge sets the sentence within new parameters. The records do not give offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to each case.

The records do not show the evidence or the plea terms. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals and do not report plea agreements. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not in these records.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.