A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: 2020
All 46 convictions at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2020 carried confinement. 87% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Camp Lejeune, North Carolina › 2020
Short answer: All 46 convictions at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2020 carried confinement. 87% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The base tried 51 cases, and Article 112a (drug) was charged in 45% of them, compared with 30% service-wide.
Every Conviction Included Confinement
In 2020, confinement was part of 100% of the 46 convictions on record. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, 15% of convictions carried no confinement. At Camp Lejeune, the figure was 0%.
The median confinement was 8 months, compared with 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of terms were 1.4 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers all the charges in the case.
Sentence Lengths Were Evenly Spread
Convictions were evenly divided across three ranges. 15 were under 6 months, 15 were 6 months to 1 year, and 15 were longer than 1 year but under 5 years. Each range had 33% of convictions. Service-wide, those shares were 36%, 23%, and 20%.
In total, 16 of 46 convictions (35%) carried more than one year of confinement, compared with 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 1 conviction carried 5 years or more. A sentence of more than one year requires a general court-martial. Special courts-martial are capped at one year.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 0 | 0% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 15 | 33% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 15 | 33% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 15 | 33% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 2% | 6% |
Punitive Discharges Were More Common
Of 45 enlisted members convicted, 39 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (87%). 9 of those were dishonorable. The rate was 82% in 2019. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed.
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge ordered by the court-martial. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Drug and Orders Charges Were More Common
47 of the 51 cases have a charge list. A case with several articles appears in each matching row. Article 112a (wrongful use and possession of controlled substances) was charged in 21 cases (45%), compared with 30% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 26%, compared with 18%.
Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 13%, compared with 7%. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 11%, compared with 7%. Article 128 (assault) appeared less often than the service rate, in 30% compared with 36%. Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 11%, compared with 16%. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 15% of cases, compared with 13%. Article 131b (obstructing justice) appeared in 9%, compared with 7%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 21 | 45% | 30% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 14 | 30% | 36% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 26% | 18% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 15% | 13% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 6 | 13% | 7% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 5 | 11% | 7% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 11% | 16% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 4 | 9% | 7% |
Convictions on the Main Charges
All 21 cases charging Article 112a and all 14 charging Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article. Article 92 cases did in 11 of 12 (92%).
The median confinement for a conviction was 6 months for both drug and orders charges and 10 months for assault. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 21 | 21 (100%) | 6 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 14 | 14 (100%) | 10 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 11 (92%) | 6 months |
Court Level and Rank
General courts-martial heard 22 of the 51 cases (43%), about the same as the 41% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The median confinement was 1.5 years at general courts-martial and 6 months at the 29 special courts-martial.
The accused were 34 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. That group is more junior than in the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole, where 64% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Compared with 2019 and Similar Installations
There were 62 cases in 2019 and 51 in 2020. The median confinement was 1 year in 2019 and 8 months in 2020. Convictions with confinement were 91% and then 100%. Enlisted punitive discharges were 82% and then 87%. The general court-martial share was 44% and then 43%. A single year has few cases, and a few cases can change these figures. The changes show a direction only.
Camp Pendleton, California (57 cases) had a 7-month median and a 74% enlisted punitive discharge rate, both lower than Camp Lejeune. Bremerton, Washington (38 cases) had a 4-month median and a 50% rate. At Bremerton, 26% of cases were contested, and 0 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.
| 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 62 | 51 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 0 of 2 | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 100% |
| Median confinement | 1 year | 8 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 82% | 87% |
| General courts-martial | 44% | 43% |
Missing Pleas and What the Records Do Not Show
None of the 2020 records for Camp Lejeune lists a plea. The data therefore cannot show how many cases were contested or how contested cases ended. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea.
The records also give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 51 | — | — | 8 months | 87% |
| Camp Pendleton, California | 57 | — | — | 7 months | 74% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 38 | 26% | 0 of 10 | 4 months | 50% |
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 2020 (51 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)
- What Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Tried in 2019 (previous / next)
- What Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Tried in 2021 (previous / next)
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 283 Cases Show (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
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 2020
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.