Fewer or More? Maltreatment Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 93 › Army

Based on 57 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

NCOs and Officers Made Up Most of the Accused

The accused in these cases were more senior than in other Army cases. Of the 57 accused, 45 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), 9 were officers or warrant officers, and 3 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4). Across the rest of the Army, junior enlisted were 55% of the accused.

The records do not show the rank or role of the people the accused were charged with maltreating.

Most Cases Were Contested

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here, 36 of 57 cases were contested and 21 ended in a guilty plea. The contested share was 63%, compared with 30% across the Army. Of the 21 guilty pleas, 20 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records say whether there was an agreement, not what it said.

Of 36 contested cases that reached a verdict, 17 ended in a full acquittal (47%). That is higher than the 38% across the Army. Another 17 (47%) ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common.

Panels Heard More of These Cases

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Judges alone heard 36 cases, enlisted panels 16, and officer panels 4. Members heard 36% of cases, compared with 18% across the Army. They heard 20 of 35 contested cases (57%).

Members acquitted the accused of all charges in 11 of 20 contested cases (55%). A military judge alone did so in 5 of 15 (33%). The records do not show why any panel or judge reached its verdict.

Cases by Year

The 57 cases were tried from February 2021 to December 2025: 18 in 2021, 17 in 2022, 8 in 2023, 9 in 2024, and 5 in 2025. Together they are 2% of the 2,422 Army courts-martial in those years.

Article 93 appeared in 2% of Army convictions with offenses listed in 2021, 2022, and 2024, and in 1% in 2023 and 2025. Convictions including the article were highest in 2021, at 11. Shares keep years comparable when the total number of cases changes.

Maltreatment Was Rarely the Only Charge

Only 5 of the 57 cases charged Article 93 by itself. The most common other charges were Article 92 (orders violation) in 26 cases, Article 128 (assault) in 24, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 24, Article 134 (general article) in 20, and Article 107 (false official statement) in 8.

Sentences cover every charge in a case. The sentence figures below therefore include those other charges as well as the maltreatment charge.

Shorter Sentences Than Across the Army

Of 40 convictions, 22 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months across the Army. A quarter of those sentences were 1.3 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

45% of convictions included no confinement, compared with 17% across the Army. 8 of 40 convictions (20%) included more than one year of confinement, compared with 28%.

Discharges, Dismissals, and Court Level

A punitive discharge followed 50% of enlisted convictions: 10 bad-conduct and 6 dishonorable. Across the Army the share was 73%. The records list 8 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 4 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

There were 36 general and 19 special courts-martial. General courts-martial made up 65% of the cases with a court level listed, compared with 73% Army-wide. The court level is not listed for 2 cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, while a special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The median confinement was 10 months at general courts-martial, where 72% of cases were contested. It was 2 months at special courts-martial, where 53% were contested.

Busiest Installations

Joint Base Lewis-McChord (6), Fort Drum (6), Camp Humphreys (5), Fort Campbell (5), and Vilseck (Europe) (4) tried the most maltreatment cases. Together they had 46% of the 57. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem.

Law Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules turn on offense dates, which the records do not give.

The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They do not include cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.