> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Guilty Pleas in 2016: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-vs-court-martial-guilty-plea-rates-2016/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:39:08.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:39:08.000Z - Description: In 2016, 176 of 356 courts-martial with a plea on record (49%) ended in a guilty plea. That is the lowest figure for any year in the table below. In federal court in fiscal year 2016, 65,893 of 67,742 people sentenced (97%) pleaded guilty, and 68,459 of 77,318 defendants whose cases ended (89%) did - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Ye](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guilty-plea-rates-vs-courts-martial/) › Guilty Pleas in 2016 **In brief:** In 2016, 176 of 356 courts-martial with a plea on record (49%) ended in a guilty plea. That is the lowest figure for any year in the table below. In federal court in fiscal year 2016, 65,893 of 67,742 people sentenced (97%) pleaded guilty, and 68,459 of 77,318 defendants whose cases ended (89%) did the same. Updated November 2, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 · Military Trial Results This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 67,742 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 77,318 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2016, 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Why Is the 2016 Court-Martial Figure So Low? The 2016 court-martial count is small and incomplete. It includes 356 courts-martial, and records from the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine Corps. The Air Force row shows 0 guilty pleas out of 113 cases, but Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020\. The Marine Corps row has only 6 cases, of which 4 were guilty pleas. The Navy row has the only large, usable count: 172 of 237 cases. The 49% figure includes the Air Force row, and it should not be read as the share of accused service members who pleaded guilty in 2016\. The Army records in this data begin in 2020, so no Army cases are in the 2016 count. | Year | Courts-martial: guilty pleas | Federal sentenced: pleaded guilty | Federal cases ended: pleaded guilty | | ---- | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | 2016 | 176 of 356 (49%) | 97% | 89% | | 2017 | 361 of 578 (62%) | 97% | 90% | | 2018 | 336 of 575 (58%) | 97% | 90% | | 2019 | 329 of 539 (61%) | 98% | 90% | | 2020 | 465 of 663 (70%) | 98% | 91% | | 2021 | 753 of 1,214 (62%) | 98% | 90% | | 2022 | 688 of 1,099 (63%) | 97% | 89% | | 2023 | 634 of 997 (64%) | 97% | 89% | | 2024 | 702 of 1,046 (67%) | 97% | 91% | | 2025 | 669 of 959 (70%) | 98% | 92% | ## What Did Federal Court Record in Fiscal Year 2016? The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 67,742 people sentenced in fiscal year 2016\. Of these, 65,893 (97%) pleaded guilty and 1,849 were convicted at trial. Among the guilty pleas, 74% had a written plea agreement. This count includes only people who were convicted and sentenced, so it cannot show how often cases ended in acquittal or dismissal. ## How Many Federal Cases Ended Without a Conviction? The Federal Judicial Center counted 77,318 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2016, for all offenses. Of these, 68,459 (89%) pleaded guilty, 7,006 (9%) had their cases dismissed, and 1,853 (2%) went to trial. In all, 70,021 of the 77,318 defendants (91%) were convicted, by plea or at trial. The remaining cases ended in dismissal or acquittal. ## How Often Did Federal Trials End in Acquittal? Of the 1,853 federal trials, 291 ended in an acquittal (16%). There were 1,627 jury trials, with 225 acquittals (14%). There were 226 bench trials, which a judge decides without a jury, with 66 acquittals (29%). Acquittals were more common in bench trials than in jury trials. The court-martial data in this post counts pleas and not verdicts, so these acquittal figures have no court-martial match here. ## What Cannot Be Compared? A court-martial plea rate and a federal plea rate describe different groups. The court-martial figure uses the trial date in the calendar year and includes cases that ended in a not-guilty plea. The federal figures use the fiscal year, which starts in October. A federal felony case generally starts with a grand jury indictment, while a court-martial does not. The records do not show whether that difference affects how often accused people plead guilty. ## What Is Missing From the Records? The records do not show the offenses charged, the reasons for any plea, or what happened to the 2016 cases that have no recorded plea. They also do not describe the sentences. This post reports recorded counts only. ### How We Counted Courts-martial with a trial date in 2016 and a plea recorded (356). Federal: people sentenced in fiscal year 2016 (67,742, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants whose cases ended that fiscal year (77,318, 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. **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. **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. ## Related Analysis - [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guilty-plea-rates-vs-courts-martial/) (overview) - [Guilty Pleas in 2017: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-vs-court-martial-guilty-plea-rates-2017/) (previous or next year) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.