Army Courts-Martial in 2025: Year in Review
The Army records show 446 courts-martial in 2025. The median adjudged confinement was 8 months, compared with 5 months in the other services in 2025. 73% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 51% in the other services.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Army records show 446 courts-martial in 2025. The median adjudged confinement was 8 months, compared with 5 months in the other services in 2025. 73% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 51% in the other services.
Longer Sentences Than the Rest of the Military
Of 390 Army convictions in 2025, 315 included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months. The other services in 2025 had a median of 5 months, and the Army median in 2024 was 6 months. 2 sentences were life sentences.
116 of 390 convictions (30%) included more than one year of confinement, compared with 20% in the other services. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 11%, compared with 8%. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in a case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the other services in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 75 | 19% | 24% |
| Under 6 months | 140 | 36% | 39% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 59 | 15% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 72 | 18% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 44 | 11% | 8% |
More Punitive Discharges Than in the Other Services
Among 353 enlisted members convicted, 257 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (73%), compared with 51% in the other services in 2025. Of those discharges, 69 were dishonorable. Among 37 convicted officers or warrant officers, 18 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge.
A sentence with no punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation, which these records do not cover.
Fewer Contested Cases
Pleas are recorded for 444 of 446 cases: 353 guilty and 91 not-guilty or mixed. The contested share was 20%. It was 27% in 2024 and 39% in the other services in 2025.
Of the 353 guilty pleas, 339 are recorded with a plea agreement and 14 have no entry. The records show whether there was an agreement, not its terms. Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 89% of the time (85 of 95). Cases charging Article 120 ended in a guilty plea 35% of the time (16 of 46).
Results in Contested Cases
Of 87 contested cases that reached a verdict, 39 ended in a full acquittal (45%). 35 ended in a partial acquittal. The full acquittal rate was higher than the 34% in the other services in 2025. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are visible.
Members heard 64 of 88 contested cases (73%). 84 contested cases reached a verdict with the forum listed. Members acquitted the accused of all charges 52% of the time. Military judges did so 17% of the time. The accused usually chooses the forum, so the cases in each group differ. The rates are not a direct comparison.
Domestic Violence Was the Most Common Charge
Shares use the 427 cases whose records list charges. Each case is counted under every article charged. Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 26% of Army cases, compared with 13% in the other services in 2025.
Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 8%, compared with 21%. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 3%, compared with 14%. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 22% in both groups.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the other services in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 109 | 26% | 13% |
| Art. 134 General article | 95 | 22% | 22% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 80 | 19% | 15% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 46 | 11% | 8% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 34 | 8% | 6% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 34 | 8% | 21% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 32 | 7% | 5% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 26 | 6% | 7% |
Results by Charge
Article 134 cases most often ended in a conviction on that article (91 of 95, or 96%). Article 120 cases least often did (25 of 46, or 54%). The median confinement for Article 120 convictions was 4.5 years, the longest of the top charges. For Article 128b convictions it was 5 months. Rows overlap, since one case can include several articles.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 109 | 97 (89%) | 5 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 95 | 91 (96%) | 1.2 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 80 | 66 (82%) | 7 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 46 | 25 (54%) | 4.5 years |
Court Levels and Forum
General courts-martial made up 291 of the 439 cases with a court level listed (66%), compared with 42% in the other services in 2025. Their median confinement was 1.3 years, and 24% were contested. Special courts-martial cap confinement at one year and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. At the 148 special courts-martial, the median was 3 months, and 13% were contested. The level is not listed for 7 cases.
Of cases with the forum listed, 15% went to members: 51 enlisted panels and 15 officer panels. A military judge alone decided the other 375. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
The Accused and Where They Were Tried
The accused included 224 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 178 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 44 officers or warrant officers. This group is more senior than in the other services in 2025, where 61% were junior enlisted.
Fort Hood (48), Fort Campbell (31), Fort Bragg (29), Joint Base Lewis-McChord (28), and Fort Bliss (27) tried the most cases. Together they had 37% of the 446.
Law Changes, Comparison With 2024, and What the Records Do Not Show
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Military judges sentence cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. These records give no offense dates, so 2025 trials mix old-rule and new-rule cases. The records cannot show whether the rules affected any figure here.
The number of cases went from 478 in 2024 to 446 in 2025. Full acquittals were 46 of 124 in 2024 and 39 of 87 in 2025. The records do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 478 | 446 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 27% | 20% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 46 of 124 | 39 of 87 |
| Convictions with confinement | 87% | 81% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 8 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 72% | 73% |
| General courts-martial | 75% | 66% |
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every Army court-martial in the data with a trial date in 2025 (446 cases), compared with the other services in 2025 and with 2024.
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
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- The Army Court-Martial Year, 2024 (previous / next)
- How 2021 Went at Army Courts-Martial
- The Army Court-Martial Year, 2022
- The Army Court-Martial Year, 2023
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2017: Year in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2018: Year in Review
- 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.