Article 128 Across the Services: Cases, Pleas, and Sentences, 2021–2025
Article 128 (assault) was the charge in 1232 courts-martial across the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 128 › Across the services
Short answer: Article 128 (assault) was the charge in 1232 courts-martial across the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025. These cases were contested slightly more often than courts-martial overall (39% compared with 35%), and 31% of contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (143 of 467), compared with 37% overall. The yearly count fell from 392 in 2021 to 163 in 2025.
Fewer Assault Cases Each Year
The number of courts-martial charging Article 128 dropped in every year of the period: 392 in 2021, 260 in 2022, 217 in 2023, 200 in 2024, and 163 in 2025.
The Army count went from 204 in 2021 to 80 in 2025. The Navy-Marine Corps count went from 133 to 58. The Air Force count was 55 in 2021 and 18 in 2023, then 31 in 2024 and 25 in 2025.
| Year | Army | Air Force | Navy-Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 204 | 55 | 133 |
| 2022 | 132 | 49 | 79 |
| 2023 | 119 | 18 | 80 |
| 2024 | 108 | 31 | 61 |
| 2025 | 80 | 25 | 58 |
Assault as a Share of Each Service's Cases
The Army had 643 Article 128 cases, and assault was charged in 27% of all Army courts-martial in these years. The Navy-Marine Corps had 411 cases, or 22% of its courts-martial. The Air Force had 178, or 15% of its courts-martial.
A case charging assault can also include other articles. The figures here count each case once, whatever else it charged. By count, the Army tried more assault cases than the other services in every year from 2021 to 2025.
| Service | Cases charging Article 128 | Share of that service's cases |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 643 | 27% |
| Air Force | 178 | 15% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 411 | 22% |
Pleas and Verdicts by Service
The contested share was 38% in both the Army (641 cases with a plea recorded) and the Navy-Marine Corps (402 cases). The Air Force share was 41% of 169 cases. A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.
Full-acquittal rates are available for the Army and the Navy-Marine Corps. In the Navy-Marine Corps, 38% of 154 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. In the Army, 30% of 244 did. The Army rate is lower than the 37% for all courts-martial in those years, and the Navy-Marine Corps rate is about the same as that figure. Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so no Air Force rate is shown for this offense.
| Service | Contested share | Cases with a plea recorded | Full acquittal (contested, verdict reached) | Contested cases with a verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 38% | 641 | 30% | 244 |
| Air Force | 41% | 169 | — | — |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 38% | 402 | 38% | 154 |
Sentences After Conviction
There were 569 Army convictions, 351 Navy-Marine Corps convictions, and 163 Air Force convictions. The median confinement was 5 months in the Army and 6 months in both the Air Force and the Navy-Marine Corps.
Confinement was part of 90% of Air Force sentences, 83% of Army sentences, and 79% of Navy-Marine Corps sentences. Longer terms were less common in the Navy-Marine Corps: 15% of its sentences were longer than 1 year, compared with 26% in the Army and 28% in the Air Force.
These are adjudged sentences, the sentence announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case, not assault alone.
| Service | Convictions | Included confinement | Median confinement | More than 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 569 | 83% | 5 months | 26% |
| Air Force | 163 | 90% | 6 months | 28% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 351 | 79% | 6 months | 15% |
The Army Used General Courts-Martial Most Often
The Army tried 80% of its assault cases at a general court-martial. The Air Force share was 62%, and the Navy-Marine Corps share was 43%. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Punitive discharges followed the same order. The Army imposed a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge on 70% of 528 convicted enlisted members. The Air Force rate was 61% of 155, and the Navy-Marine Corps rate was 54% of 326.
| Service | Convicted enlisted members | Punitive discharge | General court-martial share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 528 | 70% | 80% |
| Air Force | 155 | 61% | 62% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 326 | 54% | 43% |
Rank of Those Charged
The rank mix was similar across services. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 56% of Army accused with rank recorded, 61% of Air Force accused, and 62% of Navy-Marine Corps accused. NCOs (E-5 to E-9) were 37%, 34%, and 33%.
Officers were 7% in the Army and 5% in each of the other services. The shares use 642 Army cases, 178 Air Force cases, and 398 Navy-Marine Corps cases with rank listed.
| Service | Cases with rank | Junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) | NCOs (E-5 to E-9) | Officers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 642 | 56% | 37% | 7% |
| Air Force | 178 | 61% | 34% | 5% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 398 | 62% | 33% | 5% |
The Rules in Effect
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder.
Also, for cases where every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under the old and the new rules. The drop in assault cases happened in the same period, and the records cannot show whether the law changes caused it.
What These Records Cannot Show
The records do not describe the injuries, the evidence, or the plea terms. Assaults handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial in all three service groups with trial dates in 2021–2025 that charged Article 128 (1232 cases). Coast Guard cases are not included.
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 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Offense (hub)
- 1129 Article 134 Courts-Martial in Three Services, 2021–2025
- 231 Article 131b Courts-Martial in Three Services, 2021–2025
- 62 Article 87a Courts-Martial in Three Services, 2021–2025
- 833 Article 92 Courts-Martial in Three Services, 2021–2025
- Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 107 Cases Compare, 2021–2025
- Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 117a Cases Compare, 2021–2025
- Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 120 Cases Compare, 2021–2025
- Article 128 explained on the law firm's website
- 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.