Guilty Pleas in Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
Courts-martial charging sexual offenses against a child had a guilty plea in 354 of the 567 cases with a plea recorded (62%). In federal court, 4,339 of 4,971 people sentenced (87%) pleaded guilty. The court-martial share is lower, but it varies a great deal by service and by year.
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In brief: Courts-martial charging sexual offenses against a child had a guilty plea in 354 of the 567 cases with a plea recorded (62%). In federal court, 4,339 of 4,971 people sentenced (87%) pleaded guilty. The court-martial share is lower, but it varies a great deal by service and by year.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 4,971 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and 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). 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 Did Courts-Martial End in a Guilty Plea?
The court-martial records list 567 cases with a plea recorded and trial dates from 2016 to 2025. 354 (62%) were guilty pleas, 16 (3%) were mixed pleas, and 197 (35%) were not-guilty pleas.
90 more courts-martial charging this offense have no plea recorded. Those cases are left out of the percentages, so the real share could differ.
A court-martial counts as contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. That covers both the not-guilty and the mixed pleas.
What Does the Federal Data Show?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 4,971 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 for enticement, transportation, and travel offenses involving a minor, along with certain sexual abuse cases that had a child-victim statute. Of these, 4,339 (87%) pleaded guilty and 632 were convicted at trial.
Among the federal guilty pleas, 90% had a written plea agreement, and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement.
What Does the Federal Judicial Center Add?
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 the same fiscal years. This count includes every case that ended, not only those that led to a sentence.
In that group, 2,739 (87%) pleaded guilty, 147 (5%) had their cases dismissed, and 245 (8%) went to trial. 2,978 of the 3,131 (95%) were convicted, by plea or at trial.
The court-martial records have no matching category for dismissals in this comparison, so the shares are not an exact match.
Do Guilty Plea Rates Differ by Service?
They differ widely. The Marine Corps had guilty pleas in 111 of 121 cases with a plea recorded (92%), and the Air Force in 46 of 116 (40%).
The Army had 118 of 196 (60%), and the Navy had 79 of 134 (59%).
Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020, which may explain part of the low Air Force share. The records cannot confirm that.
| Service | Cases with a plea recorded | Guilty pleas | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 196 | 118 | 60% |
| Air Force | 116 | 46 | 40% |
| Navy | 134 | 79 | 59% |
| Marine Corps | 121 | 111 | 92% |
Did the Plea Rate Change From Year to Year?
The court-martial guilty plea share ranged from 38% in 2016 (9 of 24 cases) to 75% in 2020 (33 of 44). The yearly counts are small, so single years move easily.
The federal share stayed between 83% in 2023 and 90% in 2017 and 2025. The sources count different things, but the federal rate was higher than the court-martial rate in every year listed.
| Year | Courts-martial: guilty pleas | Federal: pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 9 of 24 (38%) | 86% |
| 2017 | 36 of 50 (72%) | 90% |
| 2018 | 29 of 53 (55%) | 90% |
| 2019 | 24 of 41 (59%) | 89% |
| 2020 | 33 of 44 (75%) | 87% |
| 2021 | 57 of 84 (68%) | 89% |
| 2022 | 42 of 67 (63%) | 86% |
| 2023 | 40 of 64 (63%) | 83% |
| 2024 | 42 of 75 (56%) | 85% |
| 2025 | 42 of 65 (65%) | 90% |
What Do Plea Agreements Tell a Reader?
Among 291 court-martial guilty pleas where the records show whether there was an agreement, 283 (97%) had one. Plea agreement records come mostly from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.
The federal figure was 90% with a written agreement. These percentages use different bases and are not a direct match.
What Are the Limits of This Comparison?
The federal numbers are by fiscal year, which are not calendar years. The court-martial numbers are by trial date.
A federal felony needs a grand jury indictment, and federal prosecutors choose which cases to bring. Courts-martial have no grand jury. The records cannot show how those differences affect plea rates, or why an individual accused chose to plead.
How We Counted
Courts-martial: every court-martial charging sexual offenses against a child (Article 120b; federal child-victim sexual abuse, enticement, and travel offenses) with a trial date in 2016 to 2025 and a plea recorded (567). Federal: people sentenced under guideline §2G1.3 (enticement, transportation, and travel offenses involving a minor) plus §2A3.1 to §2A3.4 cases with a child-victim statute (4,971, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 2422 or 2423 (enticement and travel) whose cases ended (3,131, 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)
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial (overview)
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Army Courts-Martial
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Marine Corps Courts-Martial
- Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Navy 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 Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Army? (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 120b Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 120b in the Army: What Sentences Followed? (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 120b Changed in Air Force Courts-Martial Since 2016? (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 120b Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- 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)
- Article 120b UCMJ: Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child (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.