October 2021 at Army Courts-Martial: 36 Cases
The Army tried 36 courts-martial in October 2021. Article 112a (drug offenses) was charged in 31% of them, compared with 12% for the Army across 2021. The contested share was lower than for the year, 28% compared with 36%. Members heard every contested case.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › October 2021
Short answer: The Army tried 36 courts-martial in October 2021. Article 112a (drug offenses) was charged in 31% of them, compared with 12% for the Army across 2021. The contested share was lower than for the year, 28% compared with 36%. Members heard every contested case.
More Drug Charges Than for the Year
Charge lists exist for all 36 cases. Each article is counted once per case. Article 112a (wrongful use and possession of controlled substances) was charged in 11 cases. Article 92 (orders violations) was also charged more often than for the year: 25%, compared with 16%.
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 12 cases (33%). That share was lower than the 38% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 10 cases (28%, compared with 29%). Article 120b (child sexual abuse) and Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior officer) were each charged in 14% of cases, compared with 8% for 2021.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 33% | 38% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 11 | 31% | 12% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 10 | 28% | 29% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 9 | 25% | 16% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 19% | 21% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 14% | 8% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 5 | 14% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 4 | 11% | 12% |
Results in the Drug Cases
Almost all drug cases ended in a guilty plea: 10 of 11 cases charging Article 112a (91%). That was the highest rate among the most common charges. The same share, 10 of 11 (91%), ended in a conviction on that article. The median confinement for those convictions was 4 months.
Article 120 cases had different results. Only 2 of 10 ended in a guilty plea (20%). Of the 10, 5 ended in a conviction on Article 120 (50%), with a median confinement of 2.4 years. The records do not explain why any accused pleaded guilty or went to trial.
Conviction Rates for the Most Common Charges
Assault cases ended in a conviction on Article 128 in 11 of 12 (92%), with a median confinement of 1 year. Article 92 cases ended in a conviction in 7 of 9, with a median of 9 months. The rows overlap, because a 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 | 12 | 11 (92%) | 1 year |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 11 | 10 (91%) | 4 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 10 | 5 (50%) | 2.4 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 9 | 7 (7 of 9) | 9 months |
Members Heard All Contested Cases
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. October 2021 had 10 contested cases and 26 guilty pleas. Of the guilty pleas, 23 are recorded with a plea agreement and 3 have no entry. The records do not show the terms of any agreement.
Members heard all 10 contested cases (100%), each with an enlisted panel. No officer panel heard a case this month. A military judge alone decided the other 26 cases. Overall, members heard 28% of the cases. The accused usually chooses the forum.
Of the 10 contested cases, 3 ended in a full acquittal. The full-acquittal rate was 30%, compared with 35% for the year. Another 5 ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are recorded.
Length of Confinement
Of 33 convictions, 82% included confinement. The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 6 months for the year. A quarter of terms were 1.8 years or more. More than one year was given in 9 of 33 convictions (27%), about the same as the 26% for 2021. Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 21%, compared with 17%. Convictions with no confinement made up 18%, compared with 19%.
Sentences differed by court level. There were 23 general courts-martial, which can adjudge any lawful sentence. Their median confinement was 1 year, and 35% were contested. The 13 special courts-martial, which are limited to one year, had a median of 2 months, and 15% were contested. The general share was 64%, lower than the 73% for the year.
These are adjudged sentences. They cover every charge in a case and come before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 6 | 18% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 11 | 33% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 7 | 21% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 18% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 9% | 8% |
Discharges
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Of enlisted convictions, 67% included a punitive discharge: 14 bad-conduct discharges and 8 dishonorable discharges. The Army share in 2021 was 70%. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation.
Only Enlisted Members Were Tried
The accused were 21 junior enlisted members and 15 NCOs. No officers were tried this month. This mix was similar to the Army for the year.
Fort Hood tried 6 cases, Fort Drum and Fort Bragg 5 each, Joint Base Lewis-McChord 4, and Fort Wainwright 3. Together these installations account for 64% of the month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Early Records and Their Limits
Article 140a required the services to begin publishing trial records by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records show trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include 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 October 2021 (36 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)
- September 2021 at Army Courts-Martial: 37 Cases (previous / next)
- What the Army Tried in November 2021 (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.