Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
Bremerton, Washington and Okinawa, Japan tried different kinds of cases from 2019–2023.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › vs. Okinawa, Japan
Short answer: Bremerton, Washington and Okinawa, Japan tried different kinds of cases from 2019–2023. Article 112a (drug offenses) was charged in 38% of the 153 Bremerton cases, against 7% at Okinawa, and 33% of contested cases that reached a verdict at Bremerton ended in a full acquittal (14 of 43), against 8% at Okinawa.
Drug Charges Were Far More Common at Bremerton
The charge lists cover 146 of the 153 Bremerton cases. A case with three articles counts in three rows of the table.
Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) was the most common charge at Bremerton, in 38% of cases. At Okinawa, the same article appeared in 7% of cases. Article 86 (AWOL) also appeared more often at Bremerton, in 5% of cases against 1%.
Okinawa had more assault and larceny cases. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 21% of Bremerton cases and 38% of Okinawa cases. Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 4% against 16%. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 7% of Bremerton cases and 18% of Okinawa cases.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Okinawa, Japan in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 55 | 38% | 7% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 31 | 21% | 38% |
| Art. 134 General article | 27 | 18% | 21% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 18 | 12% | 9% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 17 | 12% | 22% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 11 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 11 | 8% | 6% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 10 | 7% | 18% |
Full Acquittals in Contested Cases
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Bremerton, 43 contested cases reached a verdict. 14 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of every charge, a rate of 33%.
At Okinawa, 1 of 13 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (8%). Another 4 Bremerton cases were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge, but guilty of another.
Pleas at the Two Installations
107 accused at Bremerton pleaded guilty and 43 contested at least one charge, with 150 of 153 records listing the plea. That makes 29% of cases contested, about the same as the 27% at Okinawa.
Guilty pleas differed by charge. Cases charging Article 112a ended in a guilty plea 87% of the time (46 of 53), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 128 ended in a guilty plea 50% of the time (15 of 30). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or went to trial on the charges.
Confinement Was Shorter at Bremerton
Bremerton had 138 convictions, and 76% of them included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months. At Okinawa, the median was 1 year.
Sentences of more than one year made up 12% of Bremerton convictions (17 of 138). At Okinawa, the share was 44%. Sentences of 5 years or more were 2% of Bremerton convictions and 9% of Okinawa convictions. 24% of Bremerton convictions carried no confinement, against 12% at Okinawa.
These figures are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Okinawa, Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 33 | 24% | 12% |
| Under 6 months | 60 | 43% | 27% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 28 | 20% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 14 | 10% | 35% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 2% | 9% |
Punitive Discharges
42% of convicted enlisted members at Bremerton received a punitive discharge: 42 bad-conduct discharges and 13 dishonorable discharges. At Okinawa, the share was 69%.
8 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Bremerton records, and 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Conviction Rates on the Top Charges
Article 134 (the general article) ended in a conviction on that article in all 27 cases that charged it, with a median confinement of 1 year. Article 112a ended in a conviction in 53 of 55 cases (96%), with a median of 3 months.
Article 80 (attempts) produced 17 convictions out of 18 cases (94%), with a median of 1 year. Article 128 had the lowest share among the top charges: 23 of 31 (74%), with a median of 3 months. Because one case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 55 | 53 (96%) | 3 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 31 | 23 (74%) | 3 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 27 | 27 (100%) | 1 year |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 18 | 17 (94%) | 1 year |
Court Level and Rank of the Accused
General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, made up 34% of Bremerton cases (52 of 153). The other 101 were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year.
The median confinement was 1 year at general courts-martial and 2 months at special courts-martial. 39% of general courts-martial were contested, compared with 23% of special courts-martial.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 82 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 60 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 10 were officers or warrant officers. The sheet describes this mix as more senior than Okinawa, where 67% of the accused were junior enlisted.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bremerton, Washington | 153 | 29% | 14 of 43 | 4 months | 42% |
| Okinawa, Japan | 100 | 27% | 1 of 13 | 1 year | 69% |
Cases per Year
The Bremerton records run from January 2019 to November 2023, with 153 cases in total. By year: 2019: 47, 2020: 38, 2021: 28, 2022: 16, 2023: 24.
What the Records Do Not Show
Trial records give the trial date but not the date of the offense. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not included.
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave out the plea and the forum. Plea counts on this page use only the records that list a plea.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Bremerton, Washington (153) and Okinawa, Japan (100) with trial dates in 2019–2023. Each figure for Bremerton, Washington is set beside the same figure for Okinawa, Japan.
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
- Bremerton, Washington: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Okinawa, Japan: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Camp Pendleton, California: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2013–2018
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Camp Pendleton, California and San Diego, California, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
- Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Parris Island, South Carolina and Pensacola, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023
- Matthew Brower
- Justin Henderson
- Kimberly Kelly
- Lawrence Lee
- Justin Mcewen
- Ann Minami
- Michelle Pettit
- Michael Whitican
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.