Did Orders Violation Cases at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Change After 2024?

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Based on 29 cases · 2024–2026 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

The Earlier and Later Periods Side by Side

The records hold 79 Article 92 cases at Camp Lejeune over the 5 years of 2019–2023 and 29 from March 2024 to September 2026. Counting full years only, that is about 16 cases a year in the earlier period and about 10 a year since.

Most measures were lower in the later period. The median confinement was 7 months and then 3 months. Convictions that included any confinement were 79% and then 69%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members were 72% and then 48%. General courts-martial were 30% of cases and then 24%.

These groups are small, and a few cases can change the figures. The changes show a direction, not a precise size.

Full Acquittals in the Later Period

In 2019–2023, 0 of 21 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. Since 2024, 3 of 7 did. A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. A full acquittal means not guilty of all charges.

The contested share was 41% in the earlier period and 24% in the later one. The later period has only 7 contested cases that reached a verdict, so each verdict changes that comparison by a large amount.

Fewer Contested Cases Than in the Service Overall

Since 2024, 29 cases have a plea recorded. Of those, 22 were guilty pleas and 7 were not-guilty or mixed pleas. The contested share of 24% is lower than the 44% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 92 cases in 2024–2026.

Punitive Discharges: Lower Than Before, Higher Than the Service

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Since 2024, 48% of enlisted convictions included one: 8 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable discharges. That is lower than the 72% at Camp Lejeune in 2019–2023. It is higher than the 37% in Article 92 cases across the Navy and Marine Corps.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These court records do not include administrative separations.

Most Sentences Were Short, and a Few Were Very Long

Since 2024, 26 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 18 of those sentences included confinement (69%). The median confinement was 3 months, the same as the 3 months median across the Navy and Marine Corps. Terms under 6 months were the most common, with 12 convictions (46%).

The longest sentences were more common here. A quarter of confinement sentences were 1 year or longer. 4 of 26 convictions (15%) carried more than one year, compared with 5% in Article 92 cases service-wide. 3 convictions carried 5 years or more, 12% of the total, compared with 3% service-wide.

These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

Of the 29 cases, 24 charged at least one other article besides Article 92. The most common were Article 128 (assault) in 7 cases, Article 112a (drug) and Article 81 (conspiracy) in 4 each, Article 115 (communicating threats) in 3, and Article 114 (endangerment) in 2.

This affects how to read the sentences. A long term in an orders-violation case may include punishment for an assault or drug charge in the same case. The records do not split a sentence by charge.

Rank and Court Level

The accused were 19 junior enlisted members, 9 NCOs, and 0 officers. That group is more junior than in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Since 2024, Camp Lejeune held 7 general and 22 special courts-martial for this charge. The general court-martial share was 24%, compared with 16% across the Navy and Marine Corps.

The court level sets the maximum sentence. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Article 92 cases were 24% of all 119 courts-martial at the base in 2024–2026.

Law Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

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 changes described above happened in the same period, but the records cannot show whether one caused the other.

Both rules depend on the offense date, and the records list only trial dates. The 2024–2026 trials therefore include both old-rule and new-rule cases. The records also do not describe evidence or plea terms, and they leave out nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations. The 2026 count covers part of the year only.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 92 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: 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.