A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: 2017
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 67 courts-martial in 2017. 77% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 68% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Camp Lejeune, North Carolina › 2017
Short answer: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 67 courts-martial in 2017. 77% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 68% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 19% of cases, compared with 9% service-wide, and the median confinement was 9 months.
Most Enlisted Convictions Included a Punitive Discharge
For an enlisted member, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. At Camp Lejeune in 2017, 77% of enlisted convictions included one: 34 bad-conduct and 16 dishonorable. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, the rate was 68%.
The records also show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not include administrative separations.
Larceny and Conspiracy Were Charged More Often
All 67 records list their charges, and a case with several articles counts under each one. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 24 cases (36%), about the same as the 37% service-wide. Article 112a (drug use or possession) was next, at 28%, compared with 31%.
The largest differences were in less common charges. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 19% of cases, compared with 9% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 15%, compared with 8%. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged less often, in 7% of cases compared with 19%. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 13%, compared with 10%. Article 92 (orders violation) was about the same as the service rate, at 15% compared with 16%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 24 | 36% | 37% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 19 | 28% | 31% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 13 | 19% | 9% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 10 | 15% | 8% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 10 | 15% | 16% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 9 | 13% | 10% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 8 | 12% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 7 | 10% | 10% |
Convictions on Each Top Charge
Every case charging Article 128, Article 112a, or Article 81 ended in a conviction on that article: 24 of 24, 19 of 19, and 10 of 10. Article 121 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 12 of 13 (92%).
The median confinement differed by charge. It was 6 months when the conviction included Article 112a, 9 months with Article 128, 11 months with Article 81, and 1 year with Article 121. Each median covers the whole sentence in the case. The rows overlap because a single case can include several charges.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 24 | 24 (100%) | 9 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 19 | 19 (100%) | 6 months |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 13 | 12 (92%) | 1 year |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 10 | 10 (100%) | 11 months |
Confinement Was Longer Than the Service Median
Of 66 convictions, 62 carried confinement. The median confinement was 9 months, slightly longer than the 8 months for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of terms were 1.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 33% of convictions here, compared with 23% service-wide. Terms under 6 months made up 27%, compared with 37%. Sentences longer than one year came in 22 of 66 convictions (33%), about the same as the 31% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 6 convictions carried 5 years or more. Only 4 convictions (6%) carried no confinement, compared with 10% service-wide.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 4 | 6% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 18 | 27% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 22 | 33% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 16 | 24% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 6 | 9% | 10% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial were 29 of the 67 cases (43%). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. The other 38 were special courts-martial, where confinement is capped at one year.
Sentences differed by court level. The median confinement was 1.5 years at general courts-martial and 6 months at special courts-martial.
Rank of the Accused
Most of the accused were junior enlisted: 54 junior enlisted members, 11 NCOs, and 1 officer. That group is more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2017.
Most Records Do Not List a Plea
Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 often omit the plea, and the 2017 records here are an example. The comparison table shows plea results for only 3 of the 67 cases, and 0 of 3 were contested.
With so few pleas recorded, the data cannot show how often Camp Lejeune cases were contested that year or how contested cases ended.
Compared with Camp Pendleton and Bremerton
Camp Pendleton, California tried 71 cases in 2017, and Bremerton, Washington tried 50. Camp Lejeune's median confinement of 9 months was the longest of the group, compared with 6 months at Camp Pendleton and 5 months at Bremerton. Its enlisted punitive discharge rate of 77% was also higher than Camp Pendleton's 71% and Bremerton's 46%.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 67 | 0 of 3 | — | 9 months | 77% |
| Camp Pendleton, California | 71 | 0 of 1 | — | 6 months | 71% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 50 | 11% | 3 of 5 | 5 months | 46% |
Rules in Effect and What the Records Do Not Show
These cases came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, so the earlier rules on panels and pleas applied. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, any plea terms, or conduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina with a trial date in 2017 (67 cases).
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
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: 2018 (previous / next)
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 2017–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 140 Cases (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2021
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.