> ## 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. # August 2024 at Army Courts-Martial: 31 Cases - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-august-2024/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:11:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:06:58.000Z - Description: Domestic violence charges were more common than usual in the Army's 31 courts-martial of August 2024. Article 128b appeared in 40% of cases with charges listed, compared with 23% for the Army across 2024. More cases were contested: 35%, compared with 27% for the year. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Army [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) › August 2024 **Short answer:** Domestic violence charges were more common than usual in the Army's 31 courts-martial of August 2024\. Article 128b appeared in 40% of cases with charges listed, compared with 23% for the Army across 2024\. More cases were contested: 35%, compared with 27% for the year. Based on 31 cases · August 2024 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Domestic Violence Was the Most Common Charge Charge lists exist for 30 of the 31 cases, and each article counts once per case. Article 128b, domestic violence, appeared in 12 of them, more than any other article. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 27%, compared with 23% for the year. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 23%, compared with 21%. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 13%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault), Article 86 (AWOL), Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior officer), and Article 112a (drugs) each appeared in 3 cases. For Article 120, that 10% share is lower than the 15% for the year. | UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2024 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------- | ------------------------------- | | [Art. 128b](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-128b-domestic-violence/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Domestic violence | 12 | 40% | 23% | | [Art. 128](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Assault | 8 | 27% | 23% | | [Art. 134](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-134/?ref=bodiesburied.com) General article | 7 | 23% | 21% | | [Art. 92](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-92/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 13% | 12% | | [Art. 120](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-120-sexual-assault/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 10% | 15% | | [Art. 86](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-86/?ref=bodiesburied.com) AWOL | 3 | 10% | 4% | | [Art. 90](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-90/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 10% | 6% | | [Art. 112a](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 3 | 10% | 8% | ## Convictions on the Top Charges Article 128b cases ended in a conviction on that article in 10 of 12 cases (83%). Article 128 cases did so in 6 of 8\. The median confinement for convictions on either article was 6 months. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap. | Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it | | --------------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | Art. 128b Domestic violence | 12 | 10 (83%) | 6 months | | Art. 128 Assault | 8 | 6 (6 of 8) | 6 months | ## Pleas and Plea Agreements A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. August 2024 had 11 contested cases and 20 guilty pleas. The contested share was 35%, compared with 27% for the Army that year. A mixed plea, guilty to some charges and not guilty to others, also counts as contested. Every one of the 20 guilty pleas is recorded with a plea agreement. Army records note whether an agreement existed but not what it said, so the records cannot show any agreed sentence limits. ## Verdicts in Contested Cases Of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal (40%), about the same as the 37% for the year. Another 3 were partial acquittals, where the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army data. A military judge alone decided 24 cases. Members heard 5 (3 enlisted panels and 2 officer panels), or 17%. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, and the accused usually chooses the forum. ## Almost Every Conviction Included Confinement Of 26 convictions, 25 included confinement (96%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the Army median for 2024\. A quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer. Only 4% of convictions included no confinement, compared with 13% for the year. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 23%, compared with 15%. Sentences longer than one year were about as common as across the Army: 7 of 26 (27%), compared with 28%. None was 5 years or more. General courts-martial made up 76% of the month's cases with a court level listed (22 of 29). Only that level can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. All figures here are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2024 | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------- | | No confinement | 1 | 4% | 13% | | Under 6 months | 12 | 46% | 43% | | 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 23% | 15% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 27% | 21% | | 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 7% | ## Punitive Discharges A punitive discharge followed 68% of enlisted convictions, compared with 72% for the year: 14 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out an administrative separation later. ## Compared With August 2023 August 2023 had 40 cases, compared with 31 in August 2024\. The median confinement went from 4 months to 6 months. Convictions with confinement went from 83% to 96%. The general court-martial share went from 60% to 76%. The contested share went from 28% to 35%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 5 of 11 to 4 of 10\. The punitive discharge share was 68% in both months. A few cases can change figures for small groups. | | August 2023 | August 2024 | | ----------------------------------- | ----------- | ----------- | | Cases | 40 | 31 | | Contested (of pleas recorded) | 28% | 35% | | Full acquittals (decided contested) | 5 of 11 | 4 of 10 | | Convictions with confinement | 83% | 96% | | Median confinement | 4 months | 6 months | | Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 68% | 68% | | General courts-martial | 60% | 76% | ## Rank, Installations, and Law Changes NCOs made up 55% of the accused, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) 39%, and officers 6%. Across the Army in 2024, junior enlisted members were 53% of those tried. Fort Benning, Kaiserslautern (Europe), Fort Hood, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and Fort Carson tried 3 cases each. Together they had 48% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, including domestic violence. That rule and the new sentencing parameters turn on offense dates, which these records do not give, so the records cannot show which rules applied to these cases. The records also do not describe the evidence or plea terms, and they do not include nonjudicial punishment. 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 with a trial date in August 2024 (31 cases), compared with the whole year. 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 - [Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub) - [Army Courts-Martial, July 2024: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-july-2024/) (previous / next) - [What the Army Tried in September 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-september-2024/) (previous / next) - [The Army Court-Martial Year, 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-2024-year-in-review/) (the whole year) - [April 2023 at Army Courts-Martial: 49 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-april-2023/) - [April 2024 at Army Courts-Martial: 46 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-april-2024/) - [Army Courts-Martial, August 2025: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-august-2025/) - [Army Courts-Martial, December 2024: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-december-2024/) - [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members) ← Previous: [Army Courts-Martial, July 2024: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-july-2024/)Next: [What the Army Tried in September 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-september-2024/) → **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.