Fighting an Army Child Endangerment Charge: How Contested Cases Ended

Trends › By Offense › Article 119b › Fighting a Army Child Endangerment Charg

Based on 23 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Only 3 Cases Ended in a Full Acquittal

Article 119b, child endangerment, appeared in 23 contested Army courts-martial between September 2021 and March 2025. A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, All 23 are contested: there were 0 guilty pleas.

Only 3 of those 23 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty on every charge. That 13% rate is lower than the 38% across all contested Army cases in those years. Another 18 cases ended in a partial acquittal, with an acquittal on some charges and a conviction on others.

Partial Acquittals Were the Most Common Result

A partial acquittal means the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army data.

Only 1 of the 23 cases charged Article 119b by itself. In the other cases, the accused faced several articles, and the verdict could be different on each of them.

Domestic Violence Was the Most Common Other Charge

Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged with child endangerment in 16 cases. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 10, Article 134 (general article) in 7, and Article 120 (sexual assault) and Article 115 (communicating threats) in 5 each.

An adjudged sentence covers every charge in the case, so the confinement and discharge figures below describe whole cases. The records cannot separate the punishment for the child endangerment charge.

Shorter Confinement Than in Contested Army Cases

Of 20 convictions, 15 included confinement, and the median term was 8 months. Across all contested Army cases, the median was 1.5 years.

No confinement and terms under 6 months each made up 25% of these 20 sentences. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 20%, compared with 9% in the Army comparison. Terms longer than one year were given in 6 of 20 convictions (30%), lower than the 44% Army-wide. Only 1 sentence was 5 years or more. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year. A special court-martial is limited to one year. These are adjudged sentences, set before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Discharges and Dismissals

A punitive discharge, for enlisted members either bad-conduct or dishonorable, was adjudged in 53% of enlisted convictions, lower than the 64% in contested Army cases overall. There were 6 bad-conduct discharges and 2 dishonorable discharges.

Of 5 convicted officers or warrant officers, 2 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. Members convicted without one could still face administrative separation later, which is outside court-martial records.

A More Senior Group of Accused

Only 5 of the accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4). The rest were 12 NCOs (E-5 to E-9) and 6 officers or warrant officers. Junior enlisted members made up 44% of all contested Army cases, so this group is more senior.

Panels heard most of these cases. Of the 23 with the forum listed, members decided 17 (74%): 12 enlisted panels and 5 officer panels. A military judge alone decided 6. The accused usually chooses between a judge and a panel. The data here does not give full-acquittal rates by forum for this offense.

Year and Installation

The yearly count was 2 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 8 in 2023, 7 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. The records cannot show why the number changed.

Fort Bragg had 7 cases, Fort Riley 3, and Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Lee, and Fort Benning 2 each. Those five installations had 70% of the 23 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a higher count does not single out any base.

Rule Changes and What the Records Omit

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel instead of commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new parameters. The records do not give offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both sets of rules.

Matters handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not in these records. The records also do not describe the evidence, the circumstances involving the child, or plea terms.

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.