October 2024 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 28 Cases
The Air Force tried 28 courts-martial in October 2024. The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 5 months for the service in all of 2024. Article 134 and Article 112a each appeared in 29% of cases, compared with 22% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › October 2024
Short answer: The Air Force tried 28 courts-martial in October 2024. The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 5 months for the service in all of 2024. Article 134 and Article 112a each appeared in 29% of cases, compared with 22% for the year.
The 2 Most Common Articles
Every one of the 28 cases has a charge list, and each article counts once per case. Article 134, the general article, and Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, each appeared in 8 cases (29%). Across the Air Force in 2024, each appeared in 22% of cases.
Article 128 (assault) appeared in 18%, compared with 15% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) and Article 128b (domestic violence) each appeared in 14%. Article 129, burglary and unlawful entry, appeared in 2 cases (7%), compared with 1% service-wide. Article 130 (stalking) appeared in 1.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 29% | 22% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 29% | 22% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 18% | 15% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 14% | 16% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 4 | 14% | 13% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 11% | 13% |
| Art. 129 Burglary; unlawful entry | 2 | 7% | 1% |
| Art. 130 Stalking | 1 | 4% | 0% |
Convictions on the Two Leading Charges
All 8 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction under it. The median confinement for those convictions was 1.9 years. For Article 112a, 7 of 8 cases ended in a conviction on the drug charge, and the median was 45 days.
Air Force records list charges mainly for convicted cases, so these rows show conviction counts and sentences, not conviction rates.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 8 | 1.9 years |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 7 | 45 days |
Confinement in October 2024
There were 23 convictions, and 18 of them included confinement (78%). The median confinement was 7 months, longer than the 5-month median for the year. A quarter of the terms were 1.7 years or longer.
Terms of more than one year were about as common as across the service: 7 of 23 convictions here (30%), compared with 28%. No confinement was more common: 22% of convictions, compared with 17%. Terms under 6 months were less common: 35%, compared with 44%.
All of these are adjudged sentences. They cover every charge in a case and come before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 22% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 35% | 44% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 13% | 11% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 26% | 22% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 4% | 6% |
How the Court Levels Compared
General courts-martial, which can impose any lawful sentence including a dishonorable discharge, made up 17 of the 28 cases (61%). A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge.
At the 17 general courts-martial, 85% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1.5 years. At the 11 special courts-martial, 70% did, and the median was 2 months.
Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with a cap of six months of confinement and no punitive discharge. The longer sentences in October 2024 came from general courts-martial.
Discharges and Dismissals
For an enlisted member, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge adjudged as part of the sentence. Of 21 convicted enlisted members, 15 received a punitive discharge: 9 dishonorable discharges and 6 bad-conduct discharges. The Air Force share across 2024 was 62%.
For officers, the equivalent is a dismissal. Neither of the 2 convicted officers or warrant officers in October 2024 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge can still be followed by administrative separation, which these records do not show.
Pleas, Forum, and Rank
Of 22 records listing the plea, 13 show a guilty plea and 9 show a contested case, meaning a not-guilty plea to at least one charge. The contested share of 41% is lower than the 45% for the Air Force that year.
A military judge alone decided 19 cases. Members decided 9: 6 enlisted panels and 3 officer panels. That panel share of 32% is close to the 30% for the year. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 64% of the accused, NCOs 25%, and officers 11%. Across the Air Force in 2024, junior enlisted members were 54%.
Where the Cases Were Tried
Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, Spangdahlem AB, Germany, Laughlin AFB, Texas, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and Eglin AFB, Florida, each tried 2 cases. Together they accounted for 36% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone does not mean a base has a particular problem.
No installation tried more than 2 cases in the month.
New Rules and Old Records
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding involves an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters.
Both changes depend on the offense date, which these records do not include. Trials in 2024 therefore include cases under the old rules and the new rules. The records also do not include the evidence, plea terms, or any matter handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in October 2024 (28 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)
- August 2024 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 21 Cases (previous / next)
- What the Air Force Tried in December 2024 (previous / next)
- The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2024 (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.