Guilty Pleas in 2020: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
In 2020, the Army appears in the court-martial data for the first time, and 465 of 663 courts-martial with a recorded plea (70%) were guilty pleas. In federal court in fiscal year 2020, 63,157 of 64,565 people sentenced (98%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In 2020, the Army appears in the court-martial data for the first time, and 465 of 663 courts-martial with a recorded plea (70%) were guilty pleas. In federal court in fiscal year 2020, 63,157 of 64,565 people sentenced (98%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 64,565 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 71,485 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2020, 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 Changed in the 2020 Court-Martial Data?
The 2020 count includes the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine Corps, since Army records start that year. There were 663 courts-martial with a plea on record. Army cases had 46 guilty pleas out of 76.
The other services were the Air Force with 117 of 226, the Navy with 122 of 175, and the Marine Corps with 180 of 186. Air Force plea information is also fuller from 2020, since it is missing for most trials before that.
| 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 Did 2020 Differ From Earlier Years?
The 70% guilty plea figure is the highest in the table up to that point. It sits alongside a change in what the records cover, as more services have usable plea data in 2020.
The records cannot show whether the higher figure reflects a change in behavior or a change in coverage.
What Did the Sentencing Commission Count?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 64,565 people sentenced in fiscal year 2020. A total of 1,408 were convicted at trial. A written plea agreement was part of 69% of the guilty pleas.
What Did the Federal Judicial Center Count?
The Federal Judicial Center counted 71,485 defendants. Guilty pleas were 64,887 (91%), dismissals were 5,173 (7%), and trials were 1,425 (2%). A total of 66,113 defendants (92%) were convicted.
Of the 1,425 trials, 199 ended in an acquittal (14%). The 1,218 jury trials had 124 acquittals (10%). The 207 bench trials had 75 acquittals (36%).
How Does 2020 Compare With 2019 and 2021?
The 2020 court-martial rate of 70% compares with 61% in 2019 and 62% in 2021. The count of cases with a plea on record was 539 in 2019, 663 in 2020, and 1,214 in 2021.
The 2021 count is much larger than the 2020 count, and the records do not say why.
Federal figures changed little in these years. The Sentencing Commission share was 98% in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The Federal Judicial Center share was 90% in 2019, 91% in 2020, and 90% in 2021.
The Army row for 2020 has only 76 cases, a small part of the 663 total, so the Army 61% figure has little effect on the 70% rate for all services.
What Is a Bench Trial in Federal Court?
A bench trial is a trial decided by a judge without a jury. In fiscal year 2020 there were 207 of them, compared with 1,218 jury trials. The acquittal rate was 36% in bench trials and 10% in jury trials.
These rates apply only to federal cases that reached trial, which were 2% of the cases that ended. They are not guilty plea rates, and the court-martial data has no matching verdict count in this post.
Limits of the 2020 Comparison
The court-martial count uses calendar years, and federal counts use fiscal years. The federal Sentencing Commission count excludes acquittals and dismissals. The records do not show why a defendant chose a plea in either system.
How We Counted
Courts-martial with a trial date in 2020 and a plea recorded (663). Federal: people sentenced in fiscal year 2020 (64,565, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants whose cases ended that fiscal year (71,485, 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 2019: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial (previous or next year)
- Guilty Pleas in 2021: 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.