What Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Tried in 2023
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 32 courts-martial in 2023. Only 1 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (10%), compared with 22% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Camp Lejeune, North Carolina › 2023
Short answer: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 32 courts-martial in 2023. Only 1 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (10%), compared with 22% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 77% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 63% service-wide.
More Contested Cases, Few Full Acquittals
26 of the 32 records list a plea. Of those, 16 accused pleaded guilty and 10 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 38%, higher than the 32% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. At Camp Lejeune in 2022, it was 21%.
All 10 contested cases reached a verdict. 1 ended in a full acquittal (10%), lower than the 22% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Another 2 ended in a partial acquittal (20%), meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
Desertion and Soliciting Were Charged More Often
26 of the 32 records list charges, and a case counts under each article it includes. Article 85 (desertion) appeared in 15% of cases, compared with 4% service-wide. Article 82 (soliciting) appeared in 12%, compared with 2%.
Article 134, the general article, was the most common charge, at 27% compared with 22%. Article 92 (orders violation) was next, at 23% compared with 18%. Article 128 (assault) appeared less often than the service rate, at 19% compared with 26%. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 15%, compared with 13%. Article 121 (larceny) was slightly less common than elsewhere, at 8% compared with 10%. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 8%, compared with 4%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 27% | 22% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 6 | 23% | 18% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 19% | 26% |
| Art. 85 Desertion | 4 | 15% | 4% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 15% | 13% |
| Art. 82 Soliciting | 3 | 12% | 2% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 8% | 10% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 2 | 8% | 4% |
More Sentences Without Confinement
Of 25 convictions, 17 carried confinement (68%). In 2022, the share was 89%. The other 8 convictions (32%) carried no confinement, compared with 21% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.
The median confinement was 5 months, about the same as the 6 months service-wide. A quarter of terms were 9 months or longer. Terms longer than one year came in 4 of 25 convictions (16%), compared with 23%. 1 conviction carried 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
9 convictions (36%) carried less than 6 months, compared with 33% service-wide. 4 (16%) carried 6 months to 1 year, compared with 23%. The 1 term of 5 years or more was 4% of convictions, the same as the service-wide share.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the whole Navy and Marine Corps docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 32% | 21% |
| Under 6 months | 9 | 36% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 16% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 12% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 4% | 4% |
Most Enlisted Convictions Included a Punitive Discharge
Of 22 convicted enlisted members, 17 received a punitive discharge: 13 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. The 77% rate was the same as Camp Lejeune's 2022 figure. It was higher than the 63% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Many sentences carried no confinement, but most convicted enlisted members still received a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial can impose any lawful sentence. They were 34% of cases (11 of 32). The median confinement at general courts-martial was 3 years.
The other 21 cases were special courts-martial. At that level, confinement is capped at one year, and a dishonorable discharge is not available. The median confinement at special courts-martial was 5 months.
Rank of the Accused
The records list 21 junior enlisted members, 2 NCOs, and 0 officers among the accused. That group is more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2023.
Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with confinement capped at six months and no punitive discharge. The 2023 records do not show how many special courts-martial here used that option.
Changes from 2022
There were 48 cases in 2022 and 32 in 2023. The contested share was higher in 2023. The median confinement was 8 months in 2022 and 5 months in 2023. Full acquittals were 0 of 9 and then 1 of 10. The general court-martial share was about the same, at 35% and 34%. A single year has few cases, so these changes show a direction only.
San Diego, California (31 cases) and Norfolk, Virginia (29 cases) were similar in size. 37% and 48% of their cases were contested. Each had 5 full acquittals among contested cases that reached a verdict: 5 of 11 at San Diego and 5 of 14 at Norfolk. Their enlisted punitive discharge rates were 62% and 52%.
| 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 48 | 32 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 21% | 38% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 0 of 9 | 1 of 10 |
| Convictions with confinement | 89% | 68% |
| Median confinement | 8 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 77% | 77% |
| General courts-martial | 35% | 34% |
What the Records Do Not Show
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. The officer equivalent, a dismissal, does not apply here because no officers were tried. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement. They do not show cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 32 | 38% | 1 of 10 | 5 months | 77% |
| San Diego, California | 31 | 37% | 5 of 11 | 6 months | 62% |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 29 | 48% | 5 of 14 | 6 months | 52% |
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 2023 (32 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 2022 (previous / next)
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2024: 44 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (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, 2023
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.