Air Force Courts-Martial, May 2016: The Month in Review
The Air Force records list 29 courts-martial in May 2016, and 1 ended in a full acquittal (3%), compared with 18% for the Air Force in all of 2016. The median confinement was 9 months, compared with 4 months for the year. Of convicted enlisted members, 78% received a punitive discharge.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force records list 29 courts-martial in May 2016, and 1 ended in a full acquittal (3%), compared with 18% for the Air Force in all of 2016. The median confinement was 9 months, compared with 4 months for the year. Of convicted enlisted members, 78% received a punitive discharge.
Almost Every Case Ended in a Conviction
Only 1 of the 29 cases tried this month ended in a full acquittal, meaning the accused was found not guilty of all charges. That rate of 3% is lower than the 18% for the Air Force in 2016.
The rate uses all cases as its base. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list the plea when the accused pleaded guilty. Contested cases therefore cannot be separated out, and the figure includes guilty pleas as well as contested cases.
Confinement Was Longer Than the Annual Median
There were 28 convictions, and 24 of them included confinement. The median confinement was 9 months, longer than the 4 months for the Air Force over the year. A quarter of terms were 2.5 years or longer.
Terms longer than one year were part of 9 of 28 convictions (32%), compared with 20% for 2016. Terms of more than 1 year and under 5 years were part of 7 convictions (25%), compared with 13% service-wide. Terms of 5 years or more were part of 2 convictions. Terms under 6 months were 29% of convictions, lower than the 44% for the year.
These are adjudged sentences, set at trial for every charge in a case. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal could reduce them afterward.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 4 | 14% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 29% | 44% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 7 | 25% | 20% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 25% | 13% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 7% | 7% |
Most Convicted Enlisted Members Received a Punitive Discharge
For an enlisted member, a punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Of 27 convicted enlisted members, 21 received one (78%), higher than the 54% for the Air Force in 2016. Of those 21, 11 were bad-conduct discharges and 10 were dishonorable discharges.
The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge can still be followed by administrative separation, which is outside these records.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial heard 17 of the 29 cases (59%), compared with 47% across the Air Force that year. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, while a special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge.
At the 17 general courts-martial, 100% of convictions brought confinement, with a median of 1.4 years. At the 12 special courts-martial, 67% did, with a median of 4 months.
Drugs, the General Article, and Child Offenses
Charge lists exist for 28 of the 29 cases, and an article counts once per case. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 14 (50%), compared with 46% for the year. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 9 (32%), compared with 27%.
Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 6 cases (21%), higher than the 16% for 2016. Article 120b, rape and sexual assault of a child, appeared in 5 (18%), compared with 11%. Assault under Article 128, rape and sexual assault under Article 120, and larceny under Article 121 each appeared in 2, and Article 120c in 1.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 14 | 50% | 46% |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 32% | 27% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 6 | 21% | 16% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 18% | 11% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 7% | 11% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 7% | 7% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 7% | 12% |
| Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct | 1 | 4% | 1% |
How the Two Leading Charges Were Sentenced
All 14 cases charging Article 112a ended in a conviction under that article, with a median confinement of 6 months for those convictions. Of 9 cases charging Article 134, 7 produced a conviction under it, with a median of 1.9 years.
Air Force records list charges mostly when a case ends in conviction, so these counts describe sentences rather than conviction rates.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 14 | 14 | 6 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 7 | 1.9 years |
Forum and Rank
The accused usually decides whether a military judge alone or a panel of members determines guilt. Where the forum is listed, members decided 38% of cases: 7 enlisted panels and 4 officer panels. A military judge alone decided the other 18. Guilty pleas are mostly missing from records of this period. The data therefore cannot show how many panel cases were contested.
The accused were 23 junior enlisted members, 5 NCOs, and 1 officer. That is a more junior group than the Air Force overall in 2016.
Installations
Robins AFB, Georgia, tried 4 cases. Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, Schriever SFB, Colorado, JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, tried 2 each. Together the five accounted for 41% of the month's cases. Larger bases try more cases of every kind, so a high count at one installation does not mean that base has a particular problem.
Older Rules and Missing Pieces
These trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in May 2016 (29 cases), compared with the whole 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
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- April 2016 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 19 Cases (previous / next)
- June 2016 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 37 Cases (previous / next)
- The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2016 (the whole year)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2019: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2020: The Month in Review
- 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.