How Often Are Convicted Officers Dismissed? Army, Air Force, and Navy-Marine Corps
The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps records from 2016–2025 include 420 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 215 of them were dismissed. The dismissal rate was 64% in the Air Force, 49% in the Army, and 40% in the Navy and Marine Corps.
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Short answer: The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps records from 2016–2025 include 420 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 215 of them were dismissed. The dismissal rate was 64% in the Air Force, 49% in the Army, and 40% in the Navy and Marine Corps.
What a Dismissal Is
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. For officers, the equivalent sentence is a dismissal. Only a general court-martial can adjudge one.
A sentence without a dismissal does not end the question of whether an officer stays in the service. An officer who is not dismissed can still face an administrative separation, which these records do not cover.
Dismissal Rates by Service
The Army records hold 167 convicted officers or warrant officers. 49% were dismissed, and 57% received confinement.
The Air Force records hold 132 convicted officers or warrant officers. 64% were dismissed, the highest rate of the services shown, and 70% received confinement.
The Navy and Marine Corps records hold 121 convicted officers or warrant officers. 40% were dismissed, the lowest rate of the services shown, and 57% received confinement, the same share as the Army.
| Service | Convicted officers | Dismissed | Included confinement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 167 | 49% | 57% |
| Air Force | 132 | 64% | 70% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 121 | 40% | 57% |
Officers Are a Small Share of the Accused
Among the accused with rank recorded, 534 were officers, compared with 5443 junior enlisted members and 3061 NCOs. Across all 9284 cases, the 420 convicted officers or warrant officers are a small group, and a few cases can move a service rate by several points.
The service counts are close to each other in size, from 121 to 167 convicted officers, so no single service supplies most of the officer cases.
Enlisted Discharges and Court Level
For comparison, 4629 of 7321 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge (63%). 3134 of those were bad-conduct discharges and 1495 were dishonorable discharges.
A bad-conduct discharge can be adjudged at a special court-martial or a general court-martial. A dishonorable discharge can be adjudged only at a general court-martial. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
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.
Of the 9284 cases, 4955 were general courts-martial (54% of those with a court level listed) and 4271 were special courts-martial; the level is not listed for 58 cases. General courts-martial produced a median confinement of 1.3 years. Special courts-martial produced a median of 3 months.
Charges Across All Cases
The charge lists cover 8433 of the 9284 cases. Each article counts once per case. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 2104 cases (25%), followed by Article 112a (drug offenses) in 1989 cases (24%) and Article 134 (the general article) in 1690 cases (20%).
Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 1264 cases (15%). Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) appeared in 670 cases (8%). The table covers all accused, enlisted and officer; the records summarized here do not break the charges out by officer cases alone.
| 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 the Top Charges
Article 112a (drug offenses) ended in a conviction on that article in 1891 of 1989 cases, the highest rate among the top charges, with a median confinement of 4 months. Article 128 ended in a conviction in 1769 of 2104 cases, the lowest, with a median of 6 months. Convictions on Article 134 brought a median of 1.2 years. The rows overlap, because one case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.
| 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 |
Pleas and Verdicts Before Sentencing
A dismissal can follow only a conviction. 6715 of the 9284 records list the plea, and 4403 of those accused pleaded guilty. The other 2312 contested at least one charge, meaning a not-guilty or mixed plea, so 34% of cases with a plea recorded were contested.
Of 2269 contested cases that reached a verdict, 898 ended in a full acquittal (40%) and 560 in a partial acquittal (25%). A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
Confinement After a Conviction
7813 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 84% of those convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, and a quarter of the confinement terms were 1.5 years or longer. 11 were life sentences.
1963 of the 7813 convictions carried more than one year of confinement (25%). These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| 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% |
Law Changes and Record Limits
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, and brought in written plea agreements, among other changes. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. These rules depend on the offense date, which the records do not give.
The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial, including officer separations handled administratively.
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.