Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
Camp Pendleton, California had 291 courts-martial from 2019–2023, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 283. At Camp Pendleton, the median confinement was 6 months, against 8 months at Camp Lejeune, and 67% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, against 82%.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › vs. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Short answer: Camp Pendleton, California had 291 courts-martial from 2019–2023, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 283. At Camp Pendleton, the median confinement was 6 months, against 8 months at Camp Lejeune, and 67% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, against 82%.
Confinement at the Two Marine Corps Bases
Camp Pendleton had 275 convictions, and confinement was part of 88% of them. The median confinement was 6 months. At Camp Lejeune, the median was 8 months.
Sentences of more than one year came less often at Camp Pendleton: 67 of 275 convictions (24%), against 30% at Camp Lejeune. The share in the longest band, 5 years or more, was 6% at Camp Pendleton and 4% at Camp Lejeune. Sentences under 6 months made up 38% of Camp Pendleton convictions and 30% of Camp Lejeune convictions.
These are adjudged sentences: what the court announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 32 | 12% | 11% |
| Under 6 months | 105 | 38% | 30% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 71 | 26% | 28% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 50 | 18% | 27% |
| 5 years or more | 17 | 6% | 4% |
Punitive Discharges
67% of convicted enlisted members at Camp Pendleton received a punitive discharge: 128 bad-conduct discharges and 49 dishonorable discharges. At Camp Lejeune, the share was 82%.
5 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Camp Pendleton records, and all 5 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
No Full Acquittals in Contested Cases
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Camp Pendleton, 31 contested cases reached a verdict, and 0 of them ended in a full acquittal. At Camp Lejeune, 1 of 40 did (2%).
9 of the Camp Pendleton cases split the charges, a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
Plea Records Are Incomplete
Only 149 of the 291 records list the plea. Among those, 118 were guilty pleas and 31 were not-guilty or mixed pleas, so 21% were contested. At Camp Lejeune, the contested share was 26%.
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so plea counts here use only the records that list them.
Cases charging Article 112a (drug offenses) ended in a guilty plea 82% of the time (31 of 38), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) ended in a guilty plea 75% of the time (21 of 28). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.
Assault Led the Charges
The charge lists cover 274 of the 291 cases. A case with three articles counts in three rows.
Article 128 (assault) was charged in 31% of Camp Pendleton cases, compared with 26% at Camp Lejeune. Two charges were less common at Camp Pendleton: Article 92, in 19% of cases against 30%, and Article 112a, in 28% against 33%. Article 134 (the general article) was charged in 16% against 21%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 86 | 31% | 26% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 78 | 28% | 33% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 53 | 19% | 30% |
| Art. 134 General article | 45 | 16% | 21% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 22 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 21 | 8% | 12% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 19 | 7% | 6% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 16 | 6% | 8% |
Conviction Shares on the Top Charges
Three of the top charges ended in a conviction on that article in every case that charged them. Article 112a had 78 of 78, with a median confinement of 4 months. Article 92 had 53 of 53, with a median of 5 months. Article 134 had 45 of 45, with a median of 1.6 years.
Article 128 ended in a conviction in 82 of 86 cases (95%), with a median of 7 months. A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 86 | 82 (95%) | 7 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 78 | 78 (100%) | 4 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 53 | 53 (100%) | 5 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 45 | 45 (100%) | 1.6 years |
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, made up 38% of Camp Pendleton cases (110 of 291). The other 181 were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year.
At general courts-martial, 92% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.7 years. At special courts-martial, 86% did, with a median of 3 months.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Pendleton, California | 291 | 21% | 0 of 31 | 6 months | 67% |
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 283 | 26% | 1 of 40 | 8 months | 82% |
Rank and Yearly Counts
Among the accused with rank recorded, 213 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 51 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 5 were officers or warrant officers. The sheet describes this mix as similar to Camp Lejeune, where 78% of the accused were junior enlisted.
The records run from January 2019 to December 2023. By year: 2019: 74, 2020: 57, 2021: 60, 2022: 61, 2023: 39.
Outside the Scope of These Records
The data covers only cases that reached a courtroom. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence, the plea terms, or the date of each offense.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Camp Pendleton, California (291) and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (283) with trial dates in 2019–2023. Each figure for Camp Pendleton, California is set beside the same figure for Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
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 Pendleton, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: 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
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
- 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 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 Camp Pendleton, California, 2019–2023
- Andrew Braden
- Matthew Brower
- John Ferriter
- Andrea Goode
- Matthew Harris
- Douglas Hatch
- Stephen Keane
- Yong Lee
- John Norman
- Cory Picton
- Derek Poteet
- Aran Walsh
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.