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# Army Article 119b Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-119b-trend-2021-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:33:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:04:12.000Z
- Description: The Army records hold 53 courts-martial charging Article 119b, child endangerment, from 2021 to 2025. Of 23 contested cases, 18 (78%) ended in a partial acquittal and 3 (13%) in a full acquittal. The full-acquittal rate Army-wide was 38%.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 119b, Army

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 119b](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-119b-courts-martial/) › Army

**Short answer:** The Army records hold 53 courts-martial charging Article 119b, child endangerment, from 2021 to 2025\. Of 23 contested cases, 18 (78%) ended in a partial acquittal and 3 (13%) in a full acquittal. The full-acquittal rate Army-wide was 38%. The median confinement was 10 months, compared with 6 months for the rest of the Army.

Based on 53 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Most Contested Cases Ended in a Partial Acquittal

A partial acquittal means the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. In Article 119b cases, that was the most common result in contested cases: 18 of the 23 contested cases that reached a verdict (78%).

Only 3 of the 23 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty on every charge. That is a 13% rate, compared with 38% across Army cases in those years. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army data.

## Domestic Violence Charges in the Same Case

Only 8 of the 53 cases charged Article 119b by itself. The most common other charge was Article 128b (domestic violence), in 32 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 18, Article 134 (general article) in 11, and Article 92 (orders violation) in 9.

A case with several charges can end with a conviction on some and an acquittal on others. Sentences also cover every charge, so the confinement figures below include these other offenses as well.

## More Cases Were Contested

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here, 23 accused contested and 30 pleaded guilty. The contested share was 43%, compared with 30% across all Army cases.

Of the 30 guilty pleas, 27 are recorded with a plea agreement and 3 have no entry. Army records show only whether an agreement existed, not what it said.

## Panels Heard a Larger Share

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone heard 36 cases, enlisted panels 12, and officer panels 5\. Members heard 32% of cases, compared with 18% across the Army.

Among contested cases, members heard 17 of 23 (74%). Guilty pleas are usually heard by a judge alone, and this group had more contested cases than the Army as a whole.

## Median Confinement Longer Than the Army's

Of the 53 cases, 50 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 42 of those sentences included confinement (84%). The median was 10 months, longer than the 6-month median Army-wide. A quarter of the sentences were 1.5 years or longer.

Terms of more than one year were given in 16 of 50 convictions (32%), compared with 28%. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case, including the other offenses.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ---------------- |
| No confinement                  | 8           | 16%        | 17%              |
| Under 6 months                  | 14          | 28%        | 39%              |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 12          | 24%        | 16%              |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 14          | 28%        | 20%              |
| 5 years or more                 | 2           | 4%         | 8%               |

## Court Level and Contested Cases

General courts-martial heard 40 of the 53 cases (75%), compared with 73% in the rest of the Army. Those cases had a median confinement of 1.1 years, and 58% were contested. The 13 special courts-martial had a median of 4 months, and 0% were contested.

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

## Discharges and Dismissals

A punitive discharge was adjudged in 70% of enlisted convictions: 25 bad-conduct and 6 dishonorable. That is about the same as the 73% across the Army. Of 6 convicted officers or warrant officers, 2 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## A More Senior Group of Accused

The accused included 26 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 20 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 7 officers or warrant officers. That group is more senior than the rest of the Army, where 55% were junior enlisted.

Fort Bragg (8), Fort Bliss (6), Fort Leonard Wood (5), Fort Riley (5), and Fort Hood (3) tried the most cases. Together they tried 51% of the total. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so these counts do not single out a base.

## Is the Charge Becoming More Common?

The share changed little. The yearly case count was 8 in 2021, 10 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 11 in 2025\. Together they were 2% of the 2,422 Army courts-martial in those years. As a share of Army convictions with listed offenses, Article 119b was between 1% and 2% each year. The count of such convictions was highest in 2023, at 10.

| Year | Convictions incl. Art. 119b | All convictions with offenses listed | Share |
| ---- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ----- |
| 2021 | 6                           | 467                                  | 1%    |
| 2022 | 6                           | 424                                  | 1%    |
| 2023 | 10                          | 408                                  | 2%    |
| 2024 | 4                           | 428                                  | 1%    |
| 2025 | 9                           | 388                                  | 2%    |

## Rules That Changed and Facts Not Recorded

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the judge sets the sentence within new parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include old-rule and new-rule cases. The records also omit the evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, and administrative separations.

Army convictions that included Article 119b, by year: 2021 6, 2022 6, 2023 10, 2024 4, 2025 962021620221020234202492025

Army convictions that included Article 119b, by year

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025 that charged Article 119b (53 cases). The trend line uses convictions whose records list the offenses found, by trial year.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 119b (Child Endangerment, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-119b-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub)
- [Fewer or More? Child Endangerment Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-119b-trend-2017-2025/) (another service)
- [Army Article 107 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-107-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Army Article 112a Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-112a-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Army Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-115-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Army Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-121-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Army Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-trend-2021-2025/)
- [What Sentence Follows an Army Child Endangerment Conviction?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-119b-sent-2021-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.