How Often Does a Court-Martial Conviction End Without Confinement?
1286 of 7813 court-martial convictions in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps records from 2016–2025 carried no confinement (16%). By service, the share was 17% in the Army, 15% in the Air Force, and 17% in the Navy and Marine Corps.
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Short answer: 1286 of 7813 court-martial convictions in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps records from 2016–2025 carried no confinement (16%). By service, the share was 17% in the Army, 15% in the Air Force, and 17% in the Navy and Marine Corps.
No Confinement by Service
The Army records hold 2128 convictions, and 17% ended without confinement. The Air Force records hold 2168 convictions, and 15% ended without confinement. The Navy and Marine Corps records hold 3517 convictions, and 17% ended without confinement.
Across all services, 1286 convictions carried no confinement, and the other 84% of convictions included some confinement.
| Service | Convictions | No confinement | No confinement but a punitive discharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 2128 | 17% | 6% |
| Air Force | 2168 | 15% | 3% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 3517 | 17% | 3% |
How Many Cases Reached a Conviction?
The records hold 9284 courts-martial, and 7813 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. The rest include full acquittals. Of 2269 contested cases that reached a verdict, 898 ended with the accused acquitted of all charges (40%), and 560 ended in a partial acquittal (25%), with a guilty finding on at least one charge.
Every sentence counted on this page comes from one of the 7813 convictions.
No Confinement Does Not Mean No Punishment
A conviction can end without confinement and still include a punitive discharge, a reduction in grade, or forfeitures of pay. The table shows how often a conviction with no confinement still carried a punitive discharge.
In the Army, 6% of convictions had no confinement but did include a punitive discharge. In the Air Force and in the Navy and Marine Corps, the share was 3%.
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for enlisted members. The officer equivalent is a dismissal.
Court Level and Confinement
At general courts-martial (4955 cases), 89% of convictions brought confinement, with a median of 1.3 years. At special courts-martial (4271 cases), 78% did, with a median of 3 months. The court level is not listed for 58 cases.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, capped at six months of confinement with no punitive discharge.
Where Convictions Fell by Sentence Length
After the 1286 convictions with no confinement, the next band, under 6 months, held 3112 convictions (40%). That is the largest band in the table. 1452 convictions brought 6 months to 1 year (19%).
1963 convictions carried more than one year of confinement (25%), and 561 of those brought 5 years or more (7%). A quarter of all confinement terms were 1.5 years or longer, and the median term was 6 months.
| 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% |
Discharges Across All Convictions
Among 7321 convicted enlisted members, 4629 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (63%). 1495 of the 4629 were dishonorable discharges.
Among 420 convicted officers or warrant officers, 215 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which falls outside these records.
The Most Common Charges
Drug and assault charges were the most common. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 2104 cases (25%) and Article 112a in 1989 (24%). Article 134 appeared in 1690 cases (20%), Article 92 in 1326 (16%), and Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) in 1264 (15%).
| 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% |
Sentences for the Top Charges
The records list charges for 8433 of the 9284 cases. Among the top charges, a conviction on Article 134 (the general article) brought the longest median confinement, 1.2 years. A conviction on Article 128 (assault) brought a median of 6 months. Convictions on Article 112a (drug offenses) and Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) each brought a median of 4 months.
Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article in 1891 of 1989 cases, the highest rate among the top charges. Article 128 ended in a conviction in 1769 of 2104 cases, the lowest. These 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 |
Who Was Convicted, and What Is Missing
Among the accused with rank recorded, 5443 were junior enlisted members, 3061 were NCOs, and 534 were officers. 4403 accused pleaded guilty and 2312 contested at least one charge, out of 6715 records that list the plea.
These are adjudged sentences: what the court-martial imposed at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, created the judge-alone special court-martial, and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied in each case.
The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation, which are other ways the services handle misconduct without confinement.
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.