Bad-Conduct and Dishonorable Discharges in the Air Force, Year by Year, 2016–2025
From 2016 to 2025, 1146 of 2036 convicted Air Force enlisted members (56%) received a punitive discharge: 699 bad-conduct discharges and 447 dishonorable discharges. The yearly share ranged from 50% in 2020 to 62% in 2024.
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Short answer: From 2016 to 2025, 1146 of 2036 convicted Air Force enlisted members (56%) received a punitive discharge: 699 bad-conduct discharges and 447 dishonorable discharges. The yearly share ranged from 50% in 2020 to 62% in 2024. Dishonorable discharges went from 21% of enlisted convictions in 2016 to 28% in 2024 and 27% in 2025.
Year-by-Year Discharge Rates
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. The table shows, for each year, the share of convicted enlisted members who received each kind.
The share with either discharge was 54% in 2016 and 51% in 2017. It was 58% in 2018 and 57% in 2019, then 50% in 2020. From 2021 on, it was 56% or higher in every year: 56% in 2021, 59% in 2022, 58% in 2023, 62% in 2024, and 60% in 2025.
Bad-conduct discharges stayed between 31% and 39% of enlisted convictions in every year. Dishonorable discharges were 18% to 21% in most years through 2021, then 25% in 2022 and 2023, 28% in 2024, and 27% in 2025.
| Year | Convicted enlisted | Bad-conduct | Dishonorable | Either |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 194 | 34% | 21% | 54% |
| 2017 | 280 | 33% | 18% | 51% |
| 2018 | 269 | 34% | 24% | 58% |
| 2019 | 256 | 38% | 19% | 57% |
| 2020 | 177 | 31% | 19% | 50% |
| 2021 | 194 | 39% | 18% | 56% |
| 2022 | 196 | 34% | 25% | 59% |
| 2023 | 150 | 33% | 25% | 58% |
| 2024 | 159 | 34% | 28% | 62% |
| 2025 | 161 | 33% | 27% | 60% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
A bad-conduct discharge can come from a general or a special court-martial. A dishonorable discharge can come only from a general court-martial, which can also impose long confinement.
At general courts-martial, 870 enlisted members were convicted. 51% received a dishonorable discharge and 33% a bad-conduct discharge. At special courts-martial, 1166 enlisted members were convicted, and 36% received a bad-conduct discharge.
| Court | Convicted enlisted | Bad-conduct | Dishonorable |
|---|---|---|---|
| General court-martial | 870 | 33% | 51% |
| Special court-martial | 1166 | 36% | 0% |
Officers and Dismissal
The officer equivalent of a punitive discharge is a dismissal. 132 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in these records, and 85 of them were dismissed.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Those separations are not in these records.
Confinement Alongside Discharge
Of 2168 convictions, 1851 included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months. 3 sentences were life sentences. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in a case.
48% of convictions carried under 6 months of confinement, and 15% carried none. 498 convictions (23%) carried more than one year. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year; a special court-martial is capped at one year. The 1437 general courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.2 years, and the 1358 special courts-martial had a median of 2 months.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 317 | 15% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 1033 | 48% | 48% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 320 | 15% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 342 | 16% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 156 | 7% | 7% |
Charges Behind the Convictions
Charges are listed for 2226 of the 2795 cases, and a case with several articles counts under each. Article 112a (drug use or possession) was the most common, in 888 cases (40%). Article 134 (general article) was next, in 500 (22%), followed by Article 92 (orders violations) in 354 (16%) and Article 128 (assault) in 333 (15%).
Air Force records list charges mainly for convictions, so the charge table gives conviction counts and sentences, not conviction rates. The median confinement for a conviction under Article 112a was 3 months. It was 4 months under Article 92, 6 months under Article 128, and 1.1 years under Article 134.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 888 | 40% | 40% |
| Art. 134 General article | 500 | 22% | 22% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 354 | 16% | 16% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 333 | 15% | 15% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 244 | 11% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 183 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 135 | 6% | 6% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 126 | 6% | 6% |
Sentences by Charge
869 convictions were for Article 112a, 486 for Article 134, 342 for Article 92, and 311 for Article 128. Each median covers every charge in the cases where that article led to a conviction.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 888 | 869 | 3 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 500 | 486 | 1.1 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 354 | 342 | 4 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 333 | 311 | 6 months |
Pleas and Verdicts
1352 of the 2795 records list the plea: 703 guilty pleas and 649 contested cases. A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. Contested cases made up 48% of those with a plea recorded.
Of 647 decided contested cases, 324 ended in a full acquittal (50%). 98 more were partial acquittals, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal shows only when an appeals opinion reports it.
Panels of members decided 486 contested cases and returned a full acquittal in 254 (52%). Military judges alone decided 161 and returned a full acquittal in 70 (43%). The accused usually chooses the forum, so these groups are not alike.
Who Was Tried, and Where
1745 accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 859 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 191 were officers or warrant officers. The yearly case counts ran from 374 in 2017 to 218 in 2025.
Nellis AFB, Nevada had the most cases (88), followed by Ramstein AB, Germany (76), JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (72), Minot AFB, North Dakota (70), and Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona (70). Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Law Changes and Gaps in the Records
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge and brought in written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and for offenses after December 27, 2023, military judges set sentences within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, and cannot show whether these changes affected discharge rates.
The records do not show the evidence, plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. Air Force records never report plea agreements, and from 2016 to 2019 they rarely list a guilty plea.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with trial dates in 2016–2025 (2795 cases).
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
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.