Guilty Pleas in Producing Child Pornography Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
Of 53 courts-martial charging producing child pornography (images of child exploitation) with a plea recorded, 44 (83%) were guilty pleas. In federal court, 94% of 5,806 people sentenced under the production guideline pleaded guilty, and 89% of 4,771 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2251 whose cas
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In brief: Of 53 courts-martial charging producing child pornography (images of child exploitation) with a plea recorded, 44 (83%) were guilty pleas. In federal court, 94% of 5,806 people sentenced under the production guideline pleaded guilty, and 89% of 4,771 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2251 whose cases ended did so. The groups are counted differently, so the rates are not a direct match.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 5,806 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 4,771 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, compared with court-martial results from this site's Military Trial Results data (updated November 2, 2026). It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
How Often Courts-Martial Ended in a Guilty Plea
The court-martial records include 53 cases charging production of child pornography (images of child exploitation) that have a plea recorded, with trial dates from 2016 to 2025. Of these, 44 (83%) were guilty pleas, 1 (2%) was a mixed plea, and 8 (15%) were not-guilty pleas.
Another 5 courts-martial charging this offense have no plea recorded. They are left out of the percentages.
A court-martial is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The mixed plea and the not-guilty pleas are the contested cases.
Plea Agreements at Courts-Martial
The records show whether a plea agreement existed in only some guilty pleas. Of 33 guilty pleas with that information, 32 (97%) had an agreement.
Plea agreement records come mostly from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, so this share does not describe the Air Force.
Guilty Pleas by Service
The Army had 12 cases with a plea recorded, and all 12 were guilty pleas. The Marine Corps had 19, with 18 guilty pleas (95%). The Navy had 9, with 5 guilty pleas.
The Air Force had 13 cases with a plea recorded, and 9 were guilty pleas (69%). Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020, so its count is incomplete.
| Service | Cases with a plea recorded | Guilty pleas | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 12 | 12 | 100% |
| Air Force | 13 | 9 | 69% |
| Navy | 9 | 5 | 5 of 9 |
| Marine Corps | 19 | 18 | 95% |
Federal Guilty Pleas Among People Sentenced
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts people who were convicted and sentenced. For guideline §2G2.1, which covers production under 18 U.S.C. 2251, that was 5,806 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of those, 5,439 (94%) pleaded guilty and 367 were convicted at trial.
Among the federal guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement. Acquittals and dismissals do not appear in this data, because it counts only sentenced people.
Federal Guilty Pleas Among All Cases That Ended
The Federal Judicial Center counts every defendant whose case ended, including dismissals and acquittals. It lists 4,771 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2251 with cases ending in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
In that group, 4,266 (89%) pleaded guilty, 231 (5%) had their cases dismissed, and 274 (6%) went to trial. A total of 4,534 (95%) were convicted, by plea or at trial.
Of the 274 trials, 6 ended in an acquittal. Jury trials numbered 248, with 3 acquittals, and bench trials, decided by a judge, numbered 26, with 3 acquittals.
Year-by-Year Plea Rates
The federal guilty plea rate was between 91% and 94% in each fiscal year from 2016 to 2025. The yearly court-martial counts are small. For example, 2024 shows 14 guilty pleas in 14 cases, and 2025 shows 9 of 11 (82%).
Several years have only 1 or 2 cases, so a single case changes a court-martial rate a great deal. The yearly table is better read as a record of counts than as a trend.
| Year | Courts-martial: guilty pleas | Federal: pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0 of 0 (none) | 91% |
| 2017 | 0 of 1 (0 of 1) | 94% |
| 2018 | 1 of 2 (1 of 2) | 94% |
| 2019 | 1 of 1 (1 of 1) | 93% |
| 2020 | 3 of 6 (3 of 6) | 94% |
| 2021 | 6 of 7 (6 of 7) | 94% |
| 2022 | 4 of 4 (4 of 4) | 94% |
| 2023 | 6 of 7 (6 of 7) | 93% |
| 2024 | 14 of 14 (100%) | 94% |
| 2025 | 9 of 11 (82%) | 94% |
What the Comparison Cannot Show
The court-martial rate counts cases that charged this offense and have a plea recorded. The federal rates count either sentenced people or defendants whose cases ended, so none of these groups is identical.
A guilty plea rate does not show how strong the evidence was or whether charges were reduced in exchange for a plea. The records also do not show what sentence followed each plea. Federal years are fiscal years, and court-martial years are by trial date.
How We Counted
Courts-martial: every court-martial charging producing child pornography (images of child exploitation) with a trial date in 2016 to 2025 and a plea recorded (53). Federal: people sentenced under primary sentencing guideline §2G2.1 (production; 18 U.S.C. 2251) (5,806, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2251 whose cases ended (4,771, Federal Judicial Center), fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
Who is in each set of numbers. The federal sentencing numbers come from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They count only people who were convicted and sentenced in federal district court. People whose cases were dismissed or who were acquitted are not in them. The military numbers come from court-martial results, which include acquittals. To compare acquittal or dismissal rates, the federal side uses a different source: the Federal Judicial Center's case data, which counts every defendant whose case ended.
Different cases reach each system. Federal prosecutors bring a narrow set of cases. In fiscal year 2024, immigration and drug trafficking cases were 59% of everyone sentenced in federal court (36,664 of 61,678). Many crimes that the military prosecutes, such as most assaults, most sexual assaults between adults, and drug use, are usually state crimes for civilians and reach federal court only in special situations, such as on federal land or in Indian Country. A federal case and a court-martial for the same crime can involve different kinds of facts.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
Offense categories do not line up exactly. Each comparison uses a federal offense group chosen to match the military article as closely as possible (see the crosswalk). Some matches are close; others are partial. The post says which federal guideline or statute was used and why it is not an exact match.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Plea agreements work differently. In federal court, most plea agreements do not bind the judge on the sentence. Since 2019, a military plea agreement can set a minimum and maximum sentence that the military judge must follow if the judge accepts the agreement. The federal numbers count anyone who pleaded guilty, with or without a written agreement.
How "plea" and "trial" are counted. In the federal sentencing numbers, "trial" means the person was convicted after a trial, including people who pleaded guilty to some counts and went to trial on others. People acquitted at trial are not in these numbers at all (see "Who is in each set of numbers"). In the federal case data, the trial rate counts both convictions and acquittals at trial among all defendants whose cases ended, including dismissed cases. Military numbers count contested cases that reached a verdict. These denominators are not the same, and each post states the one it uses.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Producing Child Pornography: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025 (overview)
- Producing Child Pornography Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Producing Child Pornography Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Producing Child Pornography Convictions of NCOs (E-5 to E-9): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Producing Child Pornography: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- Producing Child Pornography: Federal Sentences vs. Army Courts-Martial
- Producing Child Pornography: Federal Sentences vs. Marine Corps Courts-Martial
- Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials? (related comparison)
- Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Year (related comparison)
- Child Pornography Sentences: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, 2016–2025 (related comparison)
- Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare (related comparison)
- Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025 (related comparison)
- Sexual Abuse of an Adult: Federal Cases vs. Article 120 Courts-Martial (related comparison)
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial (related comparison)
- Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial (related comparison)
- Fewer or More? General Article Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows an Army General Article Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Fighting an Army General Article Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Army General Article Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Air Force Article 134 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows an Air Force General Article Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Air Force General Article Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps General Article Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 134, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps General Article Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Not Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Article 134 Cases: What Happened at Trial (court-martial data)
- When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to General Article (court-martial data)
- Article 134 (General Article): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 134 UCMJ: The General Article (law firm reference page)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
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.