Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Marine Corps Courts-Martial
Only 10 contested Marine Corps courts-martial for sexual offenses against a child reached a verdict in the records. 4 ended in a full acquittal (40%) and 3 were partial acquittals (30%). In federal court, 6 of 245 trials ended in an acquittal (2%). The Marine Corps count is too small to support a ra
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 7 min read
Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement › Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Marine Corps Acquittals
In brief: Only 10 contested Marine Corps courts-martial for sexual offenses against a child reached a verdict in the records. 4 ended in a full acquittal (40%) and 3 were partial acquittals (30%). In federal court, 6 of 245 trials ended in an acquittal (2%). The Marine Corps count is too small to support a rate comparison.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 3,131 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). The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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.
What Do the Marine Corps Records Contain?
The records list 10 contested courts-martial that reached a verdict, with trial dates in 2017 to 2025. 4 of the 10 ended in a full acquittal (40%), and 3 (30%) were partial acquittals.
A percentage based on 10 cases changes a great deal with each added or removed case.
What Happened in Each Year?
Most years have no Marine Corps contested verdict at all. The years listed are 2017 (0 of 1), 2021 (0 of 3), 2023 (0 of 1), 2024 (1 of 2), and 2025 (3 of 3).
The table lists only years with a contested verdict. Counts this small do not show a trend, and the records cannot explain the 2025 result.
| Year | Marine Corps: full acquittals of contested cases |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0 of 1 |
| 2021 | 0 of 3 |
| 2023 | 0 of 1 |
| 2024 | 1 of 2 |
| 2025 | 3 of 3 |
Who Decided Guilt?
A judge alone decided 7 cases, with 2 full acquittals. Members decided 2 cases, with 1 full acquittal, and 1 case had no forum listed and ended in a full acquittal.
Navy and Marine Corps records usually do not show who decided guilt. These groups are too small for any comparison between judges and members.
How Do Federal Trials Compare?
The Federal Judicial Center counted 3,131 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2422 or 2423, the enticement and travel statutes, whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 245 of them (8%) went to trial, 2,739 (87%) pleaded guilty, and 147 (5%) had their cases dismissed.
6 of the 245 trials ended in an acquittal (2%). Jury trials numbered 227, with 6 acquittals (3%). The 18 bench trials had 0 acquittals.
2,978 of the 3,131 defendants (95%) were convicted, by plea or at trial.
Why Is the Comparison Weak?
The Marine Corps rate has a denominator of 10 and the federal rate a denominator of 245. One more acquittal would change the Marine Corps percentage far more than one more federal acquittal would change the federal one.
The groups are also defined differently. The Marine Corps number counts contested cases that reached a verdict, and the federal number counts trials in a pool that includes pleas and dismissals.
Federal case data does not report partial acquittals separately, so only the full acquittal rate can be set beside the federal number.
What Do the Records Not Show?
The records do not show why any of the 10 cases ended as they did. They also do not show how cases were screened. A federal felony needs a grand jury indictment, and a court-martial has no grand jury.
Air Force records rarely list the charges in acquittals, so the Air Force is outside this set of comparisons. The numbers describe records and do not predict what would happen in a particular case.
How We Counted
Marine Corps courts-martial charging sexual offenses against a child (Article 120b; federal child-victim sexual abuse, enticement, and travel offenses) with trial dates in 2016 to 2025 that were contested and reached a verdict (10). Federal: defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2422 or 2423 (enticement and travel) whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 (3,131), Federal Judicial Center.
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.
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)
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial (overview)
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Army Courts-Martial
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Navy Courts-Martial
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
- Guilty Pleas in Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- 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)
- Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial (related comparison)
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Conviction? (court-martial data)
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Article 120b (Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 120b UCMJ: Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child (law firm reference page)
- Forum Selection (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.