Full Acquittal Rates in Contested Cases, Year by Year
Across 9284 Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2016–2025, 898 of 2269 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (40%).
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Trends › Full Acquittal Rates in Contested Cases,
Short answer: Across 9284 Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2016–2025, 898 of 2269 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (40%). Year by year from 2021 through 2025, the Army full-acquittal rate in contested cases ranged from 35% to 45%, and the Navy-Marine Corps rate ranged from 20% to 27%.
Army and Navy-Marine Corps Rates by Year
The year-by-year table covers Army and Navy-Marine Corps contested cases that reached a verdict. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either through a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. A full acquittal means the accused was acquitted of all charges.
In the Army, the full-acquittal rate was 35% in 2021 (190 contested cases), 38% in 2022 (175), 39% in 2023 (147), 37% in 2024 (124), and 45% in 2025 (87). The 2025 rate is the highest in the table, and it comes from the smallest number of Army contested cases.
In the Navy and Marine Corps, the rate was 26% in 2021 (132 contested cases), 20% in 2022 (112), 22% in 2023 (95), and 27% in both 2024 and 2025 (128 each). In every year shown, the Army rate was higher than the Navy-Marine Corps rate.
| Year | Army contested | Army full acquittal | Navy-Marine Corps contested | Navy-Marine Corps full acquittal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 190 | 35% | 132 | 26% |
| 2022 | 175 | 38% | 112 | 20% |
| 2023 | 147 | 39% | 95 | 22% |
| 2024 | 124 | 37% | 128 | 27% |
| 2025 | 87 | 45% | 128 | 27% |
Why the Air Force Is Not in the Yearly Table
Air Force records rarely list the plea in full acquittals before 2020. A full acquittal with no plea listed cannot be counted as a contested case. For that reason, Air Force rates are shown separately in other posts rather than in this table.
The yearly table begins with 2021. The records span 9284 cases from 2016 through 2025: 493 in 2016, 881 in 2017, 863 in 2018, 801 in 2019, 741 in 2020, 1245 in 2021, 1127 in 2022, 1019 in 2023, 1097 in 2024, and 1017 in 2025.
Full and Partial Acquittals Across All Services
Across all services and years, 2269 contested cases reached a verdict. 898 ended in a full acquittal (40%). Another 560 ended in a partial acquittal (25%), meaning the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
A partial acquittal still counts as a conviction, and the sentence covers only the charges that ended in a guilty finding. The remaining contested cases ended in a conviction on every charge.
Most Cases Were Not Contested
6715 of the 9284 records list the plea. Of those, 4403 accused pleaded guilty and 2312 contested at least one charge, so 34% of cases with a plea recorded were contested.
Guilty pleas were more common for some charges than others. Cases charging Article 112a (drug offenses) ended in a guilty plea 81% of the time (942 of 1157), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 128 (assault) ended in a guilty plea 60% of the time (984 of 1628). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.
Contested Cases by Court Level
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Contested cases made up 42% of the 4955 general courts-martial and 25% of the 4271 special courts-martial. The court level is not listed for 58 cases.
Which Charges Appear Most Often
Each article counts once per case. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 2104 cases (25%). Article 112a was charged in 1989 cases (24%), Article 134 in 1690 (20%), and Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) in 1264 (15%). Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) appeared in 670 cases (8%).
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all courts-martial in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 2104 | 25% | 25% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 1989 | 24% | 24% |
| Art. 134 General article | 1690 | 20% | 20% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 1326 | 16% | 16% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 1264 | 15% | 15% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence, numbered since 2019 | 670 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 657 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 642 | 8% | 8% |
Conviction on Each Top Charge
The charge lists cover 8433 of the 9284 cases. Conviction rates on the top charges are high, and these counts include guilty pleas. Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article in 1891 of 1989 cases (95%), the highest among the top charges.
Article 128 had the lowest rate: 1769 of 2104 cases (84%). Article 134 (the general article) ended in a conviction in 1564 of 1690 cases (93%), and Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) in 1221 of 1326 (92%). One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 2104 | 1769 (84%) | 6 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 1989 | 1891 (95%) | 4 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 1690 | 1564 (93%) | 1.2 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 1326 | 1221 (92%) | 4 months |
Sentences After a Conviction
7813 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 84% of those sentences included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, and 1963 convictions carried more than one year (25%). These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all courts-martial in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 1286 | 16% | 16% |
| Under 6 months | 3112 | 40% | 40% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 1452 | 19% | 19% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1402 | 18% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 561 | 7% | 7% |
Rule Changes and Limits of the Counts
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Each of these changes depends on the offense date, which the records do not give. The records cannot show whether any change affected acquittal rates.
These records cover what reached a courtroom. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, so they cannot show how strong the case was in any acquittal or conviction.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps with trial dates in 2016–2025 (9284 cases). Figures are totals; no individual case is listed.
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
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.