> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pleading Guilty to Article 93 in the Army: What Sentences Followed? - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-93-plea-2021-2025/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:07:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:15.000Z - Description: Army records list 21 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 that included Article 93 (maltreatment). Only 1 of the accused was junior enlisted. The rest were NCOs or officers. 10 of the 21 convictions (48%) included no confinement. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 93, Army [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 93](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-93-courts-martial/) › Pleading Guilty to Article 93 in the Arm **Short answer:** Army records list 21 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 that included Article 93 (maltreatment). Only 1 of the accused was junior enlisted. The rest were NCOs or officers. 10 of the 21 convictions (48%) included no confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 5 months for all Army guilty pleas. Based on 21 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## An Offense Charged Against Leaders Article 93 punishes cruelty toward, oppression of, or maltreatment of a person subject to the accused's orders. The rank figures match that definition: 16 of the accused were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), 4 were officers or warrant officers, and only 1 was junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4). This group is more senior than all Army guilty pleas in those years, where 60% of the accused were junior enlisted. Keep this in mind for the comparisons below: the comparison group is mostly junior enlisted members. ## Many Sentences Without Confinement Of 21 convictions, 11 included confinement and 10 (48%) did not. Across all Army guilty pleas in those years, 14% of convictions included no confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 5 months across Army guilty pleas. A quarter of sentences to confinement were 7 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case. ## Sentence Lengths 8 convictions (38%) included under 6 months of confinement, compared with 44% for Army guilty pleas. 1 conviction (5%) included 6 months to 1 year, compared with 18%. Only 2 of 21 convictions (10%) included more than one year, compared with 24% across Army guilty pleas. Both were between 1 and 5 years. No sentence was 5 years or longer. With only 21 cases, a change of 1 case makes a large change in these percentages. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army guilty pleas in those years | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------- | | No confinement | 10 | 48% | 14% | | Under 6 months | 8 | 38% | 44% | | 6 months to 1 year | 1 | 5% | 18% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 10% | 17% | | 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 6% | ## Discharges and Dismissals A punitive discharge followed 65% of enlisted convictions: 10 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. Across all Army guilty pleas, the share was 75%. Of the 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. Only a general court-martial can adjudge a dishonorable discharge, and 1 appears here. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not cover. ## Other Charges in These Cases Article 93 was the only charge in 5 of the 21 cases. The others included at least one more article: Article 128 (assault) in 9 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 6, Article 134 (the general article) in 5, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 4, and Article 133 (conduct unbecoming) in 3. A single sentence covers every charge in a case. The results above include maltreatment and these other offenses together. The records do not assign any part of a sentence to a particular charge. The cases that included sexual assault or conduct unbecoming, for example, carry one sentence for the whole case. ## Court Level and Forum General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, heard 10 of the 19 cases with a court level listed (53%). The court level is not listed for 2 cases. Special courts-martial, capped at one year of confinement, heard the rest. Army records say whether there was a plea agreement, not what it said. A military judge alone decided all 21 cases. Most guilty pleas are heard by a military judge alone. ## Timeline and Locations The cases were tried between February 2021 and December 2025: 6 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. Fort Drum had 3 cases, and Fort Hood, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Camp Humphreys, and Fort Benning had 2 each. Those five had 52% of the 21 cases. Counts this small say little about any single installation. ## Changes in Military Justice Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Article 120 was charged in 4 of these cases, so the change applies to part of this group when the offense dates qualify. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records do not give offense dates, so trials from 2024 on mix cases under old and new rules. The data cannot show whether either change affected outcomes. 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. ## What the Records Do Not Show The records do not describe who was mistreated, the evidence, or the plea terms. Maltreatment handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation is not counted. 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: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 93 (maltreatment) (21 cases), compared with all Army guilty pleas in those years. 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 93 (Cruelty and Maltreatment): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-93-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub) - [Fewer or More? Maltreatment Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-93-trend-2021-2025/) - [Article 93 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-93-sent-2021-2025/) - [Not Guilty Pleas in Army Article 93 Cases: What Happened at Trial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-93-acq-2021-2025/) - [Guilty Pleas in Army Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-119b-plea-2021-2025/) - [Guilty Pleas in Army Communicating Threats Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-115-plea-2021-2025/) - [Guilty Pleas in Army Conspiracy Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-81-plea-2021-2025/) - [Guilty Pleas in Army Domestic Violence Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128b-plea-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.