Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 91 Cases Compare, 2021–2025
A punitive discharge followed 45% of enlisted convictions in Article 91 (insubordination) cases from 2021–2025, compared with 65% across all courts-martial in those years. Only 3 of 40 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (8%), compared with 37% overall.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 91 › Across the services
Short answer: A punitive discharge followed 45% of enlisted convictions in Article 91 (insubordination) cases from 2021–2025, compared with 65% across all courts-martial in those years. Only 3 of 40 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (8%), compared with 37% overall. The records hold 80 Article 91 cases in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
Fewer Punitive Discharges Than Courts-Martial Overall
Across the three services, 45% of convicted enlisted members in these cases received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. For all courts-martial in the same years, the rate was 65%.
The services differed. The Air Force rate was 73% of 11 convicted enlisted members. The Army rate was 48% of 40. The Navy-Marine Corps rate was 26% of 23, the lowest of the three. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
| Service | Convicted enlisted members | Punitive discharge | General court-martial share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 40 | 48% | 49% |
| Air Force | 11 | 73% | 45% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 23 | 26% | 12% |
Few General Courts-Martial in the Navy-Marine Corps
The Navy-Marine Corps tried 12% of its Article 91 cases at a general court-martial. The Army share was 49%, and the Air Force share was 45%. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. The Navy-Marine Corps also had the lowest punitive discharge rate and the lowest share of convictions with confinement among the three services.
Navy-Marine Corps Cases Were Contested More Often
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In the Navy-Marine Corps, 62% of 24 cases with a plea recorded were contested. The Air Force share was 50% of 10, and the Army share was 47% of 43.
None of the 15 Navy-Marine Corps contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0%). In the Army, 15% of 20 such cases did. Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so no Air Force rate is given for this offense. Counting every contested case with a verdict in these records, 3 of 40 ended in a full acquittal (8%), lower than the 37% for all courts-martial in those years.
| Service | Contested share | Cases with a plea recorded | Full acquittal (contested, verdict reached) | Contested cases with a verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 47% | 43 | 15% | 20 |
| Air Force | 50% | 10 | — | — |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 62% | 24 | 0% | 15 |
Confinement by Service
Confinement was part of 52% of the 25 Navy-Marine Corps convictions. The median was 4 months, and 4% of the sentences were longer than 1 year.
The Army had 40 convictions, with 80% including confinement, a median of 4 months, and 18% longer than 1 year. Every one of the 11 Air Force convictions included confinement. The Air Force median was 7 months, and 27% of its sentences were longer than 1 year.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. A case charging Article 91 can include other charges, and the sentence covers every charge.
| Service | Convictions | Included confinement | Median confinement | More than 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 40 | 80% | 4 months | 18% |
| Air Force | 11 | 100% | 7 months | 27% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 25 | 52% | 4 months | 4% |
A Small Number of Cases
The Army had 43 of the 80 cases, or 2% of its courts-martial. The Navy-Marine Corps had 26 and the Air Force had 11, each 1% of that service's courts-martial. With groups this small, a single case can move a percentage noticeably.
| Service | Cases charging Article 91 | Share of that service's cases |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 43 | 2% |
| Air Force | 11 | 1% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 26 | 1% |
Counts by Year
The yearly total was 22 in 2021, 16 in 2022, 18 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 13 in 2025. The Army count went from 14 in 2021 and 13 in 2022 to 3 in 2024 and 6 in 2025. The Navy-Marine Corps had more cases than the Army in 2023 and 2024, with 8 and 6. The Air Force had between 1 and 3 cases each year.
| Year | Army | Air Force | Navy-Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | 3 | 5 |
| 2022 | 13 | 1 | 2 |
| 2023 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| 2024 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 2025 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
All Enlisted Accused
No officers appear among the accused with rank recorded in any service. In the Air Force, 91% of the 11 accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) and 9% were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). In the Navy-Marine Corps, 71% of 24 were junior enlisted and 29% were NCOs. In the Army, 63% of 43 were junior enlisted and 37% were NCOs.
| Service | Cases with rank | Junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) | NCOs (E-5 to E-9) | Officers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 43 | 63% | 37% | 0% |
| Air Force | 11 | 91% | 9% | 0% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 24 | 71% | 29% | 0% |
Law Changes During These Years
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Separately, when every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters.
These records list only trial dates. Cases tried from 2024 on can fall under either the old rules or the new rules, and the records cannot show whether any change in the numbers came from the law.
Limits of the Data
The records do not describe what the accused said or did, the evidence, or the plea terms. Insubordination handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation does not appear in these records. Cases also appear here when Article 91 was charged, even if the accused was not convicted of it.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial in all three service groups with trial dates in 2021–2025 that charged Article 91 (80 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
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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.