Conspiracy at Army Courts-Martial, 2021: The Year in Numbers
The Army tried 21 courts-martial in 2021 that charged Article 81 (conspiracy). Only 10% were contested, compared with 36% in all Army cases in 2021, and every case ended in a conviction. The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months across the Army.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 81 › Army, 2021
Short answer: The Army tried 21 courts-martial in 2021 that charged Article 81 (conspiracy). Only 10% were contested, compared with 36% in all Army cases in 2021, and every case ended in a conviction. The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months across the Army.
Guilty Pleas in 19 of 21 Cases
Of the 21 accused, 19 pleaded guilty and 2 contested at least one charge. A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. The 10% contested share was lower than the 36% for all Army cases in 2021.
Of the 19 guilty pleas, 17 are recorded with a plea agreement and 2 have no entry. Army records say whether an agreement existed, not what it said. All 21 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge.
Conspiracy Was Always Charged With Something Else
None of the 21 cases charged Article 81 by itself. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 9 cases and Article 92 (orders violation) in 7. Article 108 (military property) and Article 80 (attempt) each appeared in 5, and Article 121 (larceny) in 4.
A sentence covers every finding in the case, so the sentence figures here include these other charges.
Confinement Terms
Confinement was part of 19 of the 21 sentences (90%). The median was 11 months, longer than the 6 months median for all Army cases in 2021. Among the sentences with confinement, a quarter were 1.8 years or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.
Terms longer than one year came in 7 of 21 convictions (33%), more often than the 26% for all Army cases in 2021. Terms of 6 months to 1 year came in 6 convictions (29%), compared with 17% across the Army. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army cases in 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 2 | 10% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 6 | 29% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 29% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 5 | 24% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 10% | 8% |
Punitive Discharges
Of the 20 convicted enlisted members, 16 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (80%), more often than the 70% for all Army cases in 2021. Of those, 5 were dishonorable. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Rank and Court Level
The accused included 14 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 6 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. Across all Army cases in 2021, 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.
General courts-martial made up 81% of the cases (17 of 21), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Members Heard 1 Case
A military judge alone decided guilt in 20 cases. Members heard 1 case, with an officer panel, which is 5% of cases with the forum listed.
Installations
Joint Base Lewis-McChord tried 6 of these cases and Fort Bliss tried 3. Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Irwin, and Camp Humphreys each tried 2. Together these five installations tried 71% of the 21 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone does not show a pattern at one base.
Limits of the Records
The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020, and Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show offense dates, the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial with a trial date in 2021 that charged Article 81 (21 cases), compared with all Army cases that year and with 2020.
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
- Article 81 (Conspiracy): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Conspiracy at Army Courts-Martial, 2022: The Year in Numbers (previous / next)
- How Has Article 81 Changed in Army Courts-Martial Since 2021? (the full trend)
- Conspiracy at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017: The Year in Numbers
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2018
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2019
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2020
- How Much Confinement for an Article 81 Conviction in the Army?
- Search every case in 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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.