Fewer or More? Disrespect Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025
The Army tried 39 courts-martial that charged Article 89 (disrespect) from 2021 to 2025. Each year, these cases were 1% to 2% of Army convictions.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 89 › Army
Short answer: The Army tried 39 courts-martial that charged Article 89 (disrespect) from 2021 to 2025. Each year, these cases were 1% to 2% of Army convictions. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide, and 42% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 73%.
A Small Number of Cases Each Year
Article 89 is the disrespect article. The records show 39 cases that charged it from January 2021 to September 2025. There were 9 in 2021, 8 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 7 in 2025. That is 2% of the 2,422 Army courts-martial in those years.
As a share of Army convictions with offenses listed, Article 89 was 1% in 2021, 1% in 2022, 2% in 2023, 1% in 2024, and 1% in 2025. The number of such convictions was 7 in both 2021 and 2023 and 4 in both 2024 and 2025. The counts are small, and the share was about the same across the period.
| Year | Convictions incl. Art. 89 | All convictions with offenses listed | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 | 467 | 1% |
| 2022 | 6 | 424 | 1% |
| 2023 | 7 | 408 | 2% |
| 2024 | 4 | 428 | 1% |
| 2025 | 4 | 388 | 1% |
Usually Charged With Other Offenses
Article 89 was the only charge in 1 of the 39 cases. Absence without leave under Article 86 was the most common other charge, in 18 cases. Article 90, disobeying an officer, appeared in 13 and Article 91, insubordination, in 12. Assault under Article 128 and the general article, Article 134, appeared in 10 each.
Sentences cover every charge in a case. The figures below include punishment for these other offenses, not disrespect alone.
Lighter Sentences Than Most Army Cases
Of 39 cases, 35 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 26 of those sentences included confinement (74%). The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide. A quarter of sentences were 5 months or longer.
Only 2 of 35 convictions (6%) included more than one year, compared with 28% across Army cases. No confinement was adjudged in 26% of convictions, compared with 17%. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the rest of the Army |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 9 | 26% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 21 | 60% | 39% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 9% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 3% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 8% |
Fewer Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge was adjudged in 42% of enlisted convictions: 12 bad-conduct and 1 dishonorable. The Army-wide share was 73%. Of 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.
NCOs Were Most of the Accused
NCOs were 51% of the accused, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) 38%, and officers 10%. Across the Army, junior enlisted members were 55% of the accused.
General courts-martial heard 17 cases, 47% of those with a court level listed, compared with 73% Army-wide. Special courts-martial heard 19, and the level is not listed for 3. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. At general courts-martial, 80% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 5 months. At special courts-martial, 76% did, and the median was 55 days.
Pleas and Verdicts
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here, 14 cases were contested and 25 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 36%, compared with 30% across the Army. All 25 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. The records do not show the terms.
Of the 14 contested cases, 4 ended in a full acquittal (29%), compared with 38% Army-wide. Another 8 ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals appear in the data.
Who Decided Guilt?
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 33 of 39 cases (85%). Members heard 6: 5 with enlisted panels and 1 with an officer panel. Among contested cases, members heard 6 of 14 (43%).
Where the Cases Were Tried
Fort Riley tried the most of these cases (7). Fort Bragg tried 5, Wheeler Army Airfield 4, Fort Irwin 3, and Fort Sill 2. Those five installations had 54% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with disrespect.
Law Changes and Limits of the Data
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel 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 do not give offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both the old and new rules.
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 do not show the evidence, the plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025 that charged Article 89 (39 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, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 89 (Disrespect Toward Superior Officer; Assault of Superior Officer): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Offense (hub)
- How Has Article 89 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (another service)
- Army Article 107 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Army Article 112a Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Army Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Army Article 119b Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Army Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- What Sentence Follows an Army Disrespect Conviction?
- 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.