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# What the Army Tried in March 2021
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-march-2021/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:52:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T05:17:51.000Z
- Description: The Army tried 57 courts-martial in March 2021. The median confinement for convictions that month was 11 months, compared with 6 months for the Army across all of 2021. Article 120b (child sexual abuse) was charged in 14% of cases, compared with 8% for the full year.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Army

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) › March 2021

**Short answer:** The Army tried 57 courts-martial in March 2021\. The median confinement for convictions that month was 11 months, compared with 6 months for the Army across all of 2021\. Article 120b (child sexual abuse) was charged in 14% of cases, compared with 8% for the full year.

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

## Longer Confinement Than for the Year

The largest difference in March 2021 is the length of confinement. Of 50 convictions, 41 included confinement. The median confinement was 11 months. For the Army across 2021, the median was 6 months.

A quarter of these terms were 2 years or longer. All of these figures are sentences as announced in the courtroom. A plea agreement can cap them, and clemency or appeal can reduce them later, so the time served may be different. Each figure covers every charge in the case, not one offense.

## Confinement by Length

Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 28% of convictions, compared with 17% for the year. Terms under 6 months made up 26%, compared with 37%.

Long terms were about the same as for the year. Terms of 5 years or more made up 8% in both. More than one year was given in 14 of 50 convictions (28%), compared with 26% for 2021\. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than a year of confinement. A special court-martial is limited to one year.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 9           | 18%        | 19%                             |
| Under 6 months                  | 13          | 26%        | 37%                             |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 14          | 28%        | 17%                             |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 10          | 20%        | 18%                             |
| 5 years or more                 | 4           | 8%         | 8%                              |

## Which Articles Were Charged

All 57 records list the charges. A case is counted once under each article it includes, so one case can appear in several rows.

Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 18 cases (32%). That share was lower than the 38% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 16 cases (28%), about the same as the 29% for the year. Article 92 (orders violation) was charged in 21% of cases, compared with 16%. Article 120b was charged in 14%, compared with 8%. Article 134 (general article) was charged less often than for the year: 16%, compared with 21%.

| UCMJ Article                                                                                                                                       | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------- | ------------------------------- |
| [Art. 128](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Assault                                   | 18    | 32%        | 38%                             |
| [Art. 120](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-120-sexual-assault/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault                            | 16    | 28%        | 29%                             |
| [Art. 92](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-92/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Failure to obey order or regulation         | 12    | 21%        | 16%                             |
| [Art. 134](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-134/?ref=bodiesburied.com) General article                           | 9     | 16%        | 21%                             |
| [Art. 120b](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-120b/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault of a child      | 8     | 14%        | 8%                              |
| [Art. 112a](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6     | 11%        | 12%                             |
| [Art. 80](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-80/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Attempts                                    | 5     | 9%         | 9%                              |
| [Art. 115](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-115/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Communicating threats                     | 4     | 7%         | 6%                              |

## Pleas and Plea Agreements

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In March 2021, 19 cases were contested and 38 ended in guilty pleas. The contested share was 33%. For the Army that year, it was 36%.

Of the 38 guilty pleas, 36 are recorded with a plea agreement and 2 have no entry. Army records show only that an agreement existed, not its terms.

## Verdicts in Contested Cases

Of the 19 contested cases that reached a verdict, 7 ended in a full acquittal (37%). That rate was about the same as the 35% for the Army that year. Another 8 (42%) ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Partial acquittals appear often in Army data. Army results report findings for each charge separately.

## Results by Article

Among the most common charges, Article 134 had the highest conviction rate on the same article: 7 of 9 cases. Article 120 had the lowest: 8 of 16\. The median confinement for Article 120 convictions was 2 years. Article 128 cases ended in a conviction in 13 of 18 cases (72%), with a median of 9 months.

These rows overlap. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.

| Article                                     | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
| ------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| Art. 128 Assault                            | 18                | 13 (72%)                | 9 months                                |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault            | 16                | 8 (50%)                 | 2 years                                 |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12                | 8 (67%)                 | 1 year                                  |
| Art. 134 General article                    | 9                 | 7 (7 of 9)              | 3.3 years                               |

## Discharges for Enlisted Members and Officers

Of 46 convicted enlisted members, 34 received a punitive discharge: 21 bad-conduct discharges and 13 dishonorable discharges. For the Army across 2021, the share was 70%. Of 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge.

A member whose sentence has no punitive discharge can still be separated administratively. These records do not track administrative separation.

## Installations, Rank, and Forum

Joint Base Lewis-McChord tried 6 of these cases. Fort Hood and Fort Campbell tried 5 each, and Fort Stewart and Fort Drum tried 4 each. Together these installations account for 42% of the 57 cases. Larger installations try more cases overall, so these counts say little about any one installation.

The accused were 34 junior enlisted members, 19 NCOs, and 4 officers. This mix was similar to the year. General courts-martial made up 84% of the month (48 of 57). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge.

A military judge alone decided 45 cases. Enlisted panels heard 10 and officer panels heard 2\. Members heard 21% of all cases, compared with 22% for the year. Members heard 12 of 19 contested cases (63%). Guilty pleas are almost always heard by a judge alone, which explains the difference.

## Early Records and Their Limits

Article 140a required the services to start publishing trial records by December 2020\. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021\. March 2021 is one of the earliest months with fuller coverage.

The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include the evidence, the terms of plea agreements, or any case resolved by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

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 March 2021 (57 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)
- [What the Army Tried in February 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-february-2021/) (previous / next)
- [What the Army Tried in April 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-april-2021/) (previous / next)
- [How 2021 Went at Army Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-2021-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: [What the Army Tried in February 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-february-2021/)Next: [What the Army Tried in April 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-courts-martial-april-2021/) →

**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.