Is Army Domestic Violence Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 128b, 2021–2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 128b › Army

Based on 410 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Cases per Year

The number of cases each year was 31 in 2021, 62 in 2022, 97 in 2023, 111 in 2024, and 109 in 2025. Over the full period, these 410 cases were 17% of the 2,422 Army courts-martial.

The increase also appears as a share of convictions. A share keeps years with different total caseloads comparable. Convictions that included Article 128b were 6% of Army convictions with offenses listed in 2021, 13% in 2022, 20% in 2023, 22% in 2024, and 25% in 2025. The highest yearly number of these convictions was 97, in 2025.

A Newer Article and a Covered Offense

Article 128b applies only to offenses on or after January 1, 2019. Earlier conduct was charged under other articles. The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021.

Article 128b is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters.

Both rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under the old rules and the new rules. The increase in cases happened in the same years as these changes. The records cannot show whether one caused the other.

Guilty Pleas and Contested Cases

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. There were 122 contested cases and 288 guilty pleas. The contested share was 30%, the same as the 30% for the rest of the Army.

Of the 288 guilty pleas, 271 are recorded with a plea agreement and 17 have no entry. The records show whether an agreement existed. They do not show its terms.

Acquittals and Who Decided Guilt

Full acquittals were less common than Army-wide. Of the 122 contested cases that reached a verdict, 31% ended in acquittal of all charges, compared with 38% across the Army.

Another 69 cases ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge, but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge. That is why partial acquittals are common in Army records.

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Members decided 21% of cases with the forum listed: 67 by enlisted panels and 18 by officer panels. A judge alone decided 321. In contested cases, members decided 83 of 118 (70%).

Contested cases decided by members ended in a full acquittal 39% of the time (32 of 83). Contested cases decided by a judge alone ended in a full acquittal 6% of the time (2 of 35). The records do not show the reason for the difference.

Confinement After Conviction

Of the 410 cases, 372 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Of those, 310 sentences included confinement (83%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the Army median. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.

Sentences longer than one year were less common than in the Army overall: 79 of 372 convictions (21%), compared with 28%. Sentences of 5 years or more were 4%, compared with 8%.

These are adjudged sentences. Each covers every charge in the case and was set before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

General and Special Courts-Martial

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial can impose no more than one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. General courts-martial were 72% of the 406 cases with a court level listed (294 of 406). The court level is not listed for 4 cases.

At general courts-martial, 87% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 8 months. At the 112 special courts-martial, 75% did, and the median was 3 months.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

In 227 of the 410 cases, at least 1 other article was charged with Article 128b. The most common were Article 128 (assault) in 75 cases, Article 134 (the general article) in 45, Article 92 (orders violation) in 45, Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 43, and Article 120 (sexual assault) in 38. A sentence covers all charges in the case.

Discharges, Rank, and Location

A punitive discharge followed 73% of enlisted convictions: 212 bad-conduct discharges and 39 dishonorable discharges. That is the same share as in the whole Army. Of 28 convicted officers or warrant officers, 11 were sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

The accused were 225 junior enlisted members, 149 NCOs, and 36 officers or warrant officers. That mix is similar to the Army overall, where 55% were junior enlisted.

Fort Bragg had the most cases (47), followed by Fort Hood (40), Joint Base Lewis-McChord (38), Fort Bliss (29), and Vilseck (Europe) (19). Together they had 42% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

What the Records Do Not Show

Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence or the plea terms. They also do not include domestic violence handled through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or civilian courts.

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