When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Assault

Trends › By Offense › Article 128 › When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Assaul

Based on 397 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Close to Other Army Guilty Pleas

The 397 cases on this page have results close to those of all Army guilty pleas. In every case, the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 128, so each case ended in a conviction.

86% of these convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 5 months in all Army guilty pleas. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer. 14% of the convictions had no confinement, the same as the 14% in all Army guilty pleas.

These are adjudged sentences: what the court announced, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.

Fewer Long Sentences

Sentences longer than one year were less common here. 75 of 397 convictions (19%) were sentenced to more than one year, compared with 24% in all Army guilty pleas. 4% were sentenced to 5 years or more, compared with 6%.

50% of these convictions were sentenced to under 6 months, compared with 44% in all Army guilty pleas. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

Article 128 was the only charge in 147 of the 397 cases. The most common other charges were Article 134 (the general article) in 67, Article 92 (orders violation) in 48, Article 128b (domestic violence) in 41, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 39, and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 37.

When assault is charged with sexual assault or domestic violence, the assault charge can describe part of the same incident. The sentence covers the whole case.

Court Level and Confinement

289 of the 388 cases with a court level listed were general courts-martial (74%), compared with 68% in all Army guilty pleas. 99 were special courts-martial, and the level is not listed for 9 cases.

At general courts-martial, 87% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 6 months. At special courts-martial, 85% did, and the median was 3 months. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Discharges and Dismissals

276 of 372 convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (74%), about the same as in all Army guilty pleas (75%). 34 of those were dishonorable discharges.

25 officers or warrant officers were convicted, and 10 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Agreements, Forum, and Rank

371 of the 397 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 26 have no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, not what it said. They cannot show how many sentences an agreement capped.

A military judge alone heard 394 cases. Enlisted panels heard 3, and no officer panel appears. Members heard 1% of these cases, compared with 0% in all Army guilty pleas.

By rank, the accused were 253 junior enlisted members, 119 NCOs, and 25 officers, That group is more junior than all Army guilty pleas in those years.

Cases by Year and Installation

The records show 115 cases in 2021, 79 in 2022, 75 in 2023, 73 in 2024, and 55 in 2025. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021; the services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.

Fort Campbell (42), Fort Bliss (37), Fort Hood (25), Fort Bragg (22), and Camp Humphreys (21) had the most cases. Together they account for 37% of the 397 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with this offense.

Rule Changes

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Article 128 assault is not itself a covered offense, but special trial counsel who take a covered offense can also take a related assault. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records do not give offense dates, so the 2024 and 2025 trials include old-rule and new-rule cases. The records cannot show whether the rules affected the yearly counts.

What the Records Do Not Show

Assaults handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not counted. The records also do not describe the injuries, the evidence, or what each plea agreement contained.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Army Courts-Martial

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.