How Did Contested Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial End in 2022?
Full acquittals came in 20% of the 112 contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial decided in 2022, lower than the 25% for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025. Among convicted enlisted members, 59% received a punitive discharge, compared with 51% for the full period.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › Navy-Marine Corps 2022, contested
Short answer: Full acquittals came in 20% of the 112 contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial decided in 2022, lower than the 25% for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025. Among convicted enlisted members, 59% received a punitive discharge, compared with 51% for the full period.
Fewer Full Acquittals Than in 2021–2025
Each of the 112 cases in this group was contested: the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, and the case reached a verdict. 20% ended in a full acquittal, with the accused acquitted of all charges. The rate for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025 was 25%.
28 cases ended in a partial acquittal. In those cases the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. The remaining 90 cases are counted as convictions in the sections below.
Discharges After Conviction
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for enlisted members. 49 of 83 convicted enlisted members in 2022 received one: 32 bad-conduct discharges and 17 dishonorable discharges. That is 59%, compared with 51% for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025.
5 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the 2022 records. 2 were dismissed, the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Drug Charges Appeared More Often
All 112 records list the charges, and each article counts once per case. Article 112a (drug offenses), Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation), Article 128 (assault), and Article 134 (the general article) were each charged in 21% of cases.
For Article 112a, that 21% compares with 14% across contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025. Other articles were charged less often than in the full period: Article 128 at 21% against 26%, and Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) at 13% against 19%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 24 | 21% | 14% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 24 | 21% | 23% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 24 | 21% | 26% |
| Art. 134 General article | 23 | 21% | 19% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 15 | 13% | 19% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 6 | 5% | 9% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 6 | 5% | 7% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 6 | 5% | 4% |
Results by Charge
All 23 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article (100%), with a median confinement of 1.8 years. Article 92 ended in a conviction in 21 of 24 cases (88%), with a median of 3 months.
Article 112a and Article 128 each ended in a conviction in 18 of 24 cases (75%). The median confinement after a drug conviction was 5 months, and after an assault conviction it was 6 months. A 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 | 24 | 18 (75%) | 5 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 24 | 21 (88%) | 3 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 24 | 18 (75%) | 6 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 23 | 23 (100%) | 1.8 years |
How Much Confinement Followed a Conviction?
68 of the 90 convictions carried confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025. A quarter of the confinement terms were 2 years or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.
22 of 90 convictions brought more than one year of confinement (24%), about the same as the 23% for the full period. The share with no confinement was lower: 22 convictions (24%), compared with 34%. The most common band was under 6 months, with 31 convictions (34%).
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 22 | 24% | 34% |
| Under 6 months | 31 | 34% | 29% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 15 | 17% | 14% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 15 | 17% | 17% |
| 5 years or more | 7 | 8% | 6% |
An Even Split Between Court Levels
56 of the 2022 cases were general courts-martial and 56 were special courts-martial. The general share, 50%, compares with 48% for contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025.
A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, and only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year. The general courts-martial here produced a median confinement of 1.6 years; the special courts-martial produced 3 months.
Rank of the Accused and Location
Among the accused with rank recorded, 62 were junior enlisted members, 41 were NCOs, and 7 were officers. The mix is similar to contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021–2025.
Camp Pendleton, California, had the most cases (19), followed by San Diego, California (16), Norfolk, Virginia (13), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (9), and Jacksonville, Florida (8). These installations account for 58% of the 112 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem.
Limits of These Records
Trial records list the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or the offense dates, and they leave out conduct handled outside a court-martial, such as nonjudicial punishment.
Because the records give trial dates only, a case tried in 2022 may involve conduct from an earlier year. The records also cannot show why any accused chose to contest the charges rather than plead guilty.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in 2022, a not-guilty or mixed plea, and a result posted (112 cases), compared with all such cases in 2021–2025.
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
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Contested Navy-Marine Corps Cases in 2023: Verdicts and Sentences
- Navy-Marine Corps Acquittals in 2021: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- Navy-Marine Corps Acquittals in 2024: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- Navy-Marine Corps Acquittals in 2025: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- Air Force Acquittals in 2022: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- Air Force Acquittals in 2024: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- Army Acquittals in 2022: How Many Contested Cases Ended Not Guilty?
- 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.