When Article 108 and Article 128 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
From 2021–2025, 13 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged both Article 108 (military property) and Article 128 (assault). 67% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 58% in all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 4 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 108 › With Article 128
Short answer: From 2021–2025, 13 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged both Article 108 (military property) and Article 128 (assault). 67% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 58% in all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108. The median confinement was 6 months in both groups.
Bad-Conduct Discharges
8 of 12 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge. All 8 were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable. Across all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108, 58% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
A bad-conduct discharge is the less severe of the punitive discharges for enlisted members; the other is a dishonorable discharge. Members who did not receive a punitive discharge can still be separated administratively later.
More Junior Enlisted Members
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 67% of the accused, and NCOs made up 33%. No officers appear. In all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108, junior enlisted members were 46%.
More General Courts-Martial
9 of the 13 cases were tried at a general court-martial (69%). In all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108, the general share was 50%.
Because a special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge, the court level sets the outer limit of the sentence.
Confinement
All 13 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 12 of the sentences included confinement (92%). The median was 6 months, the same as the 6 months median for all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108.
A quarter of the terms with confinement were 1.1 years or longer. These are trial sentences that cover every charge, recorded before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Pleas
10 of the accused pleaded guilty, and 3 contested at least one charge. The contested share, 23%, is close to the 21% in all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 108.
Other Charges
No case charged Article 108 by itself. Besides Article 128, the most common charges were Article 134 (general article) in 6 cases, Article 115 (communicating threats) in 5, Article 92 (orders violation) in 5, and Article 87a (resisting apprehension) in 4.
Years of Trial
The 13 trials took place from February 2021 through June 2025: 6 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 4 in 2023, none in 2024, and 1 in 2025.
Rule Change and Limits
From December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether covered offenses such as domestic violence are prosecuted. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. The records list trial dates only, so they cannot place a case under the old or new rules.
Evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, and administrative separations are not part of these records.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial that charged both Article 108 and Article 128 (13 cases). Air Force cases are left out because Air Force records rarely list the charges in acquittals.
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
- Article 108 (Military Property; Loss, Damage, Destruction): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Article 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- When Article 108 and Article 121 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
- When Article 108 and Article 92 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
- Military Property Plus General Article: Courts-Martial Charging Articles 108 and 134
- Fewer or More? Military Property Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025
- Fewer or More? Military Property Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Compare: federal court. Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
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.