Bremerton, Washington Before and After 2024: How Its Courts-Martial Changed

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Before and after 2024

Based on 52 cases · 2024–2026 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Lower Sentences Than the Rest of the Service

Many convictions at Bremerton in these years had no confinement. Of 45 convictions, 25 included confinement and 20 (44%) did not. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, 30% of convictions had no confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, shorter than the 6 months in the rest of the service. A quarter of the sentences were 1.1 years or longer.

Sentences longer than one year were also less common: 7 of 45 convictions (16%), compared with 20% across the service. All of these figures are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.

Then and Now: 2019–2023 Against 2024–2026

The earlier period held 153 cases over 5 years, about 31 a year. Since 2024 the pace is about 18 a year, counting full years only. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share went from 29% to 33%.

Convictions with confinement went from 76% to 56%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 3 months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 42% to 33%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 14 of 43 to 6 of 17. General courts-martial were about the same, at 34% before and 35% after. In small groups a few cases can move a percentage, so these changes show direction, not precise rates.

Larceny and Sexual Assault Were More Common

All 52 records list charges, and each article counts once per case. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 17% of Bremerton cases, compared with 7% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in these years. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 13%, compared with 6%.

Article 134, the general article, was the most common charge at 21%, the same share as service-wide. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 17% of cases. Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 8%, lower than the 12% across the service.

Discharges and Dismissals

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Of 42 enlisted members convicted at Bremerton, 14 received one (33%). That is lower than the 52% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 5 of the 14 were dishonorable discharges.

The records show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was not dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. Without a punitive discharge, an administrative separation can still follow later. Those separations are not in these records.

Contested Cases and Their Verdicts

Plea records cover 51 of the 52 cases: 34 guilty pleas and 17 contested cases. The contested share was 33%, slightly lower than the 36% for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.

Of the 17 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (35%). That is higher than the 26% rate across the service. Another 5 (29%) were partial acquittals. In a partial acquittal, the accused is found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Conviction Rates for the Leading Charges

All 11 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article. The median confinement for those convictions was 2 years. Article 121 (larceny) ended in a conviction in 9 of 9 cases, with a median confinement of 1 year. Article 92 ended in a conviction in 8 of 9 cases, with a median confinement of 4 months. A single case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.

Sentences by Court Level

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. Bremerton held 18 general courts-martial (35% of cases) and 34 special courts-martial.

Sentences differed by court level. At general courts-martial, 77% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 2 years. At special courts-martial, 47% did, with a median of 35 days.

Who Was Tried, and Similar Installations

The accused included 21 junior enlisted members, 28 NCOs, and 1 officer. This group was more senior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay (53 cases) and Okinawa, Japan (50 cases) tried a similar number of cases in these years. Of the 3 installations, Bremerton had the shortest median confinement: 3 months, compared with 7 months and 1 year. It also had the lowest punitive-discharge share: 33%, compared with 69% and 56%.

Rule Changes and Missing Pieces

The data covers January 2024 to September 2026. There were 17 cases in 2024, 18 in 2025, and 17 so far in 2026, a partial year. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so cases under the old and new rules are mixed. The data cannot show whether the rules changed any outcome.

The records also do not describe the evidence or plea terms. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.