Guilty Pleas in Drug Use Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
Among 714 courts-martial for wrongful drug use (Article 112a) with a plea recorded, 454 were guilty pleas, which is 64%. In federal court, 6,160 of 6,268 people sentenced for simple possession pleaded guilty, which is 98%. Federal law has no crime of drug use, so simple possession is the nearest cha
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In brief: Among 714 courts-martial for wrongful drug use (Article 112a) with a plea recorded, 454 were guilty pleas, which is 64%. In federal court, 6,160 of 6,268 people sentenced for simple possession pleaded guilty, which is 98%. Federal law has no crime of drug use, so simple possession is the nearest charge, and the match is not exact.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 6,268 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, compared with court-martial results from this site's Military Trial Results data (updated November 2, 2026). Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended 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.
How Often Did Courts-Martial End in a Guilty Plea?
The court-martial records have a plea recorded for 714 drug cases with trial dates from 2016 to 2025. Of these, 454 were guilty pleas, 18 were mixed pleas, and 242 were not-guilty pleas. In percentages, that is 64%, 3%, and 34%.
Another 372 courts-martial charging this offense have no plea recorded. They are left out of these shares, so the shares describe only the cases with a recorded plea. The 64% court-martial share and the 98% federal share are the main comparison here, and the sections below explain why the shares are not counted the same way.
Why Do the Shares Differ by Service?
The share of guilty pleas varies by service. In the table below, the Army has the highest share, 94%, and the Air Force has the lowest, 51%.
Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020. The Air Force share therefore rests on incomplete records.
| Service | Cases with a plea recorded | Guilty pleas | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 64 | 60 | 94% |
| Air Force | 461 | 234 | 51% |
| Navy | 79 | 65 | 82% |
| Marine Corps | 110 | 95 | 86% |
What Does the Year-by-Year Pattern Show?
Guilty pleas made up 5 of 36 recorded cases in 2016 and 7 of 48 in 2019. From 2020 to 2025, the share was between 77% and 87% each year.
The records cannot tell whether the low early shares reflect real differences in how cases were resolved or the missing Air Force plea information. The yearly federal share was more than 99% in 2016 and 95% or higher in every year shown.
| Year | Courts-martial: guilty pleas | Federal: pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 of 36 (14%) | more than 99% |
| 2017 | 5 of 50 (10%) | more than 99% |
| 2018 | 1 of 50 (2%) | 99% |
| 2019 | 7 of 48 (15%) | 98% |
| 2020 | 63 of 79 (80%) | 97% |
| 2021 | 120 of 138 (87%) | 97% |
| 2022 | 99 of 124 (80%) | 96% |
| 2023 | 61 of 70 (87%) | 95% |
| 2024 | 56 of 71 (79%) | 95% |
| 2025 | 37 of 48 (77%) | 96% |
What Is the Federal Plea Rate?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission data cover 6,268 people sentenced under 21 U.S.C. 844 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of these, 6,160 pleaded guilty, and 108 were convicted at trial.
Federal figures count people who were convicted and sentenced. They do not count cases that ended in dismissal or acquittal. The court-martial shares count every case with a recorded plea, whatever the verdict, so the rates are not defined the same way.
What About Plea Agreements?
Among the federal guilty pleas, 73% had a written plea agreement, and 23% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The court-martial records show whether a plea agreement existed for only some cases. Of 215 guilty pleas with that information, 202 had one, which is 94%. Those records come mostly from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, so the figure does not describe the Air Force.
What the Records Cannot Show
A guilty plea share says how a case was resolved. It does not say whether the sentence was lighter or heavier than a trial would have brought, and the records here cannot answer that.
A contested court-martial is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, which includes mixed pleas. Federal trial counts follow a different definition. Nothing here is legal advice.
How We Counted
Courts-martial: every court-martial charging wrongful drug use (Article 112a), compared with federal simple possession, the nearest federal charge with a trial date in 2016 to 2025 and a plea recorded (714). Federal: people sentenced under a conviction under 21 U.S.C. 844 (simple possession), the nearest federal charge (6,268, U.S. Sentencing Commission), 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.
Drug use has no federal counterpart. Federal law does not make drug use a crime. A positive drug test is not a federal offense; a civilian can be charged only with possessing the drug. Bringing drugs onto a military installation is also a military-only offense. For these, the nearest federal charge is simple possession, and the post says that the match is not exact.
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)
- Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare (overview)
- Drug Use Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Drug Use Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Drug Use Convictions of NCOs (E-5 to E-9): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Drug Use Convictions of Officers and Warrant Officers: Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Drug Use: Sentences After a Guilty Plea vs. After Trial, Federal Court and Courts-Martial
- Drug Use: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- 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)
- 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)
- Army Article 112a Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- What Sentence Follows an Army Drug Conviction? (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 112a Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- Guilty Pleas in Army Drug Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (court-martial data)
- Are Air Force Drug Courts-Martial Disappearing? Article 112a, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Air Force? (court-martial data)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 112a in the Air Force: What Sentences Followed? (court-martial data)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps? (court-martial data)
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Drug Charge: How Contested Cases Ended (court-martial data)
- When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Drug (court-martial data)
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 112a UCMJ Drug Offenses and Positive Urinalysis (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.