Guilty Pleas in 2019: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
The 2019 row has the largest federal count in the table: 76,538 people sentenced in fiscal year 2019, of whom 74,709 (98%) pleaded guilty. Courts-martial with a 2019 trial date and a recorded plea numbered 539, and 329 (61%) were guilty pleas.
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In brief: The 2019 row has the largest federal count in the table: 76,538 people sentenced in fiscal year 2019, of whom 74,709 (98%) pleaded guilty. Courts-martial with a 2019 trial date and a recorded plea numbered 539, and 329 (61%) were guilty pleas.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 76,538 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 85,478 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2019, 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.
What Was Different About Fiscal Year 2019?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 76,538 people sentenced in 2019. No other fiscal year from 2016 to 2025 in this data has a larger sentenced group. Of those sentenced, 74,709 (98%) pleaded guilty and 1,829 were convicted at trial.
A written plea agreement was part of 70% of the guilty pleas. The Commission reported 97% for each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018, so 98% is the first time the share was that high in this series.
What Does the Federal Judicial Center Report for 2019?
The Federal Judicial Center counted 85,478 defendants whose cases ended. Guilty pleas were 77,104 (90%), dismissals were 6,424 (8%), and trials were 1,950 (2%).
Of the 85,478 defendants, 78,767 (92%) were convicted. The count covers all offenses and includes cases that ended without a conviction.
How Many 2019 Federal Trials Ended in Acquittal?
Of the 1,950 federal trials, 287 ended in an acquittal (15%). Jury trials numbered 1,689, with 207 acquittals (12%). Bench trials numbered 261, with 80 acquittals (31%).
What Do the 2019 Court-Martial Rows Show?
Only the Navy and the Marine Corps have usable plea records for 2019. The Navy had 166 guilty pleas out of 230 cases. The Marine Corps had 162 out of 162.
A Marine Corps row with 162 of 162 means that every case with a recorded plea was a guilty plea. The Air Force row shows 1 of 147, but Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020.
The Army records begin in 2020, so no Army cases are included in the 539 total.
| 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% |
How Does 2019 Compare With Nearby Years?
The 2019 court-martial rate of 61% sits between the 2018 rate of 58% and the 2020 rate of 70%. The 2019 count of 539 cases with a plea on record is lower than the 575 cases in 2018 and the 663 in 2020.
The Federal Judicial Center guilty plea share was 90% in both 2018 and 2019. In 2020 it was 91%.
These figures show that federal rates were steady while the court-martial rate varied. The records do not show the reason for the variation, and the change in which services have usable plea data is part of what the court-martial rate reflects.
What a Written Plea Agreement Shows
The 70% plea agreement share applies only to federal guilty pleas among people sentenced. The court-martial data in this post does not report plea agreements for 2019, so no direct comparison is possible for that year.
Reading the 2019 Numbers With Care
The court-martial rate of 61% is a blend of one service with nearly all guilty pleas, one service with most guilty pleas, and one service with almost none recorded. It is not a measure of any single court-martial system.
The records cannot show what share of the 2019 courts-martial that lacked plea information ended in a guilty plea. They also cannot explain the differences between services.
How We Counted
Courts-martial with a trial date in 2019 and a plea recorded (539). Federal: people sentenced in fiscal year 2019 (76,538, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants whose cases ended that fiscal year (85,478, 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Year (overview)
- Guilty Pleas in 2018: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial (previous or next year)
- Guilty Pleas in 2020: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial (previous or next year)
- 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.