Guilty Pleas in 2022: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
In fiscal year 2022, 79% of federal guilty pleas among people sentenced came with a written plea agreement, and 62,527 of 64,142 sentenced people (97%) pleaded guilty. Among 1,099 courts-martial with a 2022 trial date and a plea on record, 688 (63%) were guilty pleas.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 79% of federal guilty pleas among people sentenced came with a written plea agreement, and 62,527 of 64,142 sentenced people (97%) pleaded guilty. Among 1,099 courts-martial with a 2022 trial date and a plea on record, 688 (63%) were guilty pleas.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 64,142 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 71,954 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2022, 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 Share of Federal Guilty Pleas Had a Written Agreement?
A written plea agreement spells out what the defendant admits and what the prosecutor agrees to do. The U.S. Sentencing Commission found one in 79% of the guilty pleas it counted for fiscal year 2022.
The Commission counted 64,142 people sentenced. Besides the 62,527 who pleaded guilty, 1,615 were convicted at trial.
What Did the Broader Federal Count Include?
The Federal Judicial Center looked at 71,954 defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2022. It lists 64,384 guilty pleas (89%), 5,901 dismissals (8%), and 1,669 trials (2%).
Convictions totaled 65,763, or 91% of the defendants. Cases that ended in dismissal or acquittal make up the rest.
How Often Did 2022 Federal Trials End in Acquittal?
Acquittals came in 290 of the 1,669 trials (17%). Among 1,475 jury trials, 230 ended in acquittal (16%). Among 194 bench trials, 60 did (31%).
The jury trial rate for 2022 is close to the overall trial rate because jury trials are most of the trials.
What Were the 2022 Court-Martial Counts by Service?
The Army row shows 316 guilty pleas in 491 cases, and the Air Force row shows 142 in 266. The Navy row shows 111 in 178, and the Marine Corps row shows 119 in 164.
The table below lists the combined rate for each year. The 2022 rate of 63% follows 62% in 2021 and precedes 64% in 2023. The case count fell from 1,214 in 2021 to 1,099 in 2022 and 997 in 2023.
| 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 Do the Federal Counts Differ?
Both federal sources cover fiscal year 2022, but they count different groups of people. The Sentencing Commission count has 64,142 people who were convicted and sentenced. The Federal Judicial Center count has 71,954 defendants whose cases ended for any reason.
The 97% and 89% guilty plea shares are therefore both correct, and each answers a separate question. The first asks how many convicted people pleaded guilty. The second asks how many defendants with any outcome pleaded guilty.
A reader comparing a court-martial rate with a federal rate should check which of the federal counts is being used.
What Do the Nearby Years Show?
The Sentencing Commission share of guilty pleas was 98% in 2021 and 97% in both 2022 and 2023. The Federal Judicial Center share was 90% in 2021 and 89% in both 2022 and 2023.
Limits on Comparing Federal Court and Courts-Martial in 2022
The federal Sentencing Commission share of 97% describes only convicted people. The court-martial share of 63% describes cases with a plea on record, including cases that end in a not-guilty plea and a verdict.
The court-martial records here do not report plea agreements for 2022. They also do not show the offenses, so the plea rates cannot be matched offense by offense.
How We Counted
Courts-martial with a trial date in 2022 and a plea recorded (1,099). Federal: people sentenced in fiscal year 2022 (64,142, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants whose cases ended that fiscal year (71,954, 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 2021: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial (previous or next year)
- Guilty Pleas in 2023: 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.