What the Army Tried in November 2021
The Army tried 38 courts-martial in November 2021. The median confinement for convictions was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months for the Army across 2021. Only 26% of the cases were contested, compared with 36% for the year. Most of the accused were junior enlisted members: 74%.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › November 2021
Short answer: The Army tried 38 courts-martial in November 2021. The median confinement for convictions was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months for the Army across 2021. Only 26% of the cases were contested, compared with 36% for the year. Most of the accused were junior enlisted members: 74%.
Shorter Sentences Than for the Year
Of 34 convictions, 76% included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months. A quarter of terms were 9 months or longer.
Terms under 6 months made up 50% of convictions, compared with 37% for the Army that year. Only 4 of 34 convictions (12%) carried more than one year, compared with 26% for 2021. Convictions with no confinement made up 24%, compared with 19%. Terms of more than 1 year but under 5 years made up 6%, compared with 18%. Terms from 6 months to 1 year (15%, compared with 17%) and terms of 5 years or more (6%, compared with 8%) were close to the year.
All of these are adjudged sentences. They cover every charge in the case and come before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, so the time served can be shorter.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 24% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 17 | 50% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 15% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 6% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 6% | 8% |
Most Cases Ended in Guilty Pleas
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In November 2021, 28 accused pleaded guilty and 10 contested the charges. The contested share was 26%. For the Army over the year, it was 36%.
Plea agreements are recorded for 26 of the 28 guilty pleas, and 2 have no entry. Army records show that an agreement existed but not its terms.
Verdicts in the 10 Contested Cases
All 10 contested cases reached a verdict. Of those, 4 ended in a full acquittal (40%). That rate was higher than the 35% for the Army that year. Another 3 (30%) ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.
Army results are reported charge by charge, so partial acquittals are recorded in Army data. With only 10 contested cases, 1 verdict changes these percentages by a large amount.
Charges Compared With the Year
All 38 records list charges. A case with several articles appears under each. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 12 cases (32%). That share was lower than the 38% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 8 cases (21%), compared with 29%.
Some less common charges were slightly more frequent than for the year. Article 112a (drug offenses) was charged in 16% of cases (compared with 12%), Article 86 (AWOL) in 8% (compared with 5%), and Article 81 (conspiracy) in 8% (compared with 4%).
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 32% | 38% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 21% | 29% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 16% | 12% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 5 | 13% | 16% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 3 | 8% | 5% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 8% | 9% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 3 | 8% | 6% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 3 | 8% | 4% |
Results in Assault and Sexual Assault Cases
Assault cases ended in a conviction on Article 128 in 10 of 12 (83%). The median confinement for those convictions was 3 months. Article 120 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 3 of 8, with a median of 9 months. A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 10 (83%) | 3 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 3 (3 of 8) | 9 months |
More Bad-Conduct Than Dishonorable Discharges
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge imposed as part of the sentence. Of 32 convicted enlisted members, 22 received one. Of those, 20 were bad-conduct discharges and 2 were dishonorable. The Army share for the year was 70%.
Of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Junior Accused and Mostly Judge-Alone Trials
Junior enlisted members made up 74% of the accused, NCOs 21%, and officers 5%. Across the Army in 2021, junior enlisted members were 58%.
General courts-martial made up 79% of the cases (30 of 38). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Special courts-martial, which are limited to one year of confinement, made up the rest.
A military judge alone decided 34 of 37 cases with a forum listed (92%). Members heard the other 3, all with enlisted panels. Most judge-alone trials are guilty pleas, and this month had few contested cases.
Installations With the Most Cases
Joint Base Lewis-McChord tried 6 cases, Fort Campbell 5, Wheeler Army Airfield 4, and Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Bragg 3 each. Together these installations account for 55% of the 38 cases. Larger installations try more cases of all kinds, so these counts say little about any one installation.
Early Records and Missing Information
Article 140a required trial records to be published by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include the evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial with a trial date in November 2021 (38 cases), compared with the whole year.
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)
- October 2021 at Army Courts-Martial: 36 Cases (previous / next)
- December 2021 at Army Courts-Martial: 27 Cases (previous / next)
- How 2021 Went at Army Courts-Martial (the whole year)
- April 2023 at Army Courts-Martial: 49 Cases
- April 2024 at Army Courts-Martial: 46 Cases
- Army Courts-Martial, August 2025: The Month in Review
- Army Courts-Martial, December 2024: The Month 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.