> ## 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 2025: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-vs-court-martial-guilty-plea-rates-2025/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:39:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:39:12.000Z - Description: The 2025 federal share of guilty pleas among all cases that ended was 92%, the highest in the table: 75,151 of 82,042 defendants. In 2025, 669 of 959 courts-martial with a plea on record (70%) were guilty pleas, the same rate as in 2020. - 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 2025 **In brief:** The 2025 federal share of guilty pleas among all cases that ended was 92%, the highest in the table: 75,151 of 82,042 defendants. In 2025, 669 of 959 courts-martial with a plea on record (70%) were guilty pleas, the same rate as in 2020. 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 66,662 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 and the Federal Judicial Center's records of 82,042 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal year 2025, 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/). ## What Was Highest in Fiscal Year 2025? The Federal Judicial Center counted 82,042 defendants whose cases ended. Of these, 75,151 (92%) pleaded guilty, 5,336 (7%) had their cases dismissed, and 1,555 (2%) went to trial. The 92% guilty plea share is the highest for any year in the table. A total of 76,514 defendants (93%) were convicted. ## What Did the Sentencing Commission Count? The Commission counted 66,662 people sentenced, and 65,099 of them (98%) pleaded guilty. A further 1,563 were convicted at trial. A written plea agreement was part of 68% of the guilty pleas. ## How Often Did the 1,555 Federal Trials End in Acquittal? There were 192 acquittals (12%). Jury trials numbered 1,324, with 135 acquittals (10%). Bench trials numbered 231, with 57 acquittals (25%). These acquittal rates cover only the small group of federal cases that reached trial. ## How Do the 2025 Courts-Martial Compare Across Services? The 959 courts-martial with a plea on record include 353 Army guilty pleas in 444 cases and 102 Air Force guilty pleas in 173\. They also include 98 Navy guilty pleas in 151 cases and 116 Marine Corps guilty pleas in 191. The Army rate is the highest of the 4 services in 2025, and the Marine Corps rate is the lowest. The combined rate of 70% follows 67% in 2024, as the table shows. | 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% | ## Where Does 2025 Sit in the Table? The court-martial rate was 62% in 2021, 63% in 2022, 64% in 2023, 67% in 2024, and 70% in 2025\. Each figure is higher than the one before it. The 2025 count of 959 cases with a plea on record is lower than the 1,046 cases in 2024 and the 1,214 cases in 2021. Federal figures were steadier. The Sentencing Commission share was 97% in 2024 and 98% in 2025. ## What Do the Service Rows Show? The Marine Corps row, at 116 of 191, is the lowest of the 4 services in 2025\. The Army row, at 353 of 444, is the highest. The Navy and Air Force rows are 98 of 151 and 102 of 173. The Air Force and Marine Corps rows were different in earlier years. Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020, and Army records in this data begin in 2020\. The Marine Corps records begin in 2017. ## How to Read the Federal Counts for 2025 The Sentencing Commission count has 66,662 people, each convicted and sentenced. The Federal Judicial Center count has 82,042 defendants, including those whose cases were dismissed. A court-martial rate is closer to the latter kind of count than to the first, since it includes cases that ended in a contested verdict. ## What Cannot Be Concluded From 2025 Alone? One year does not show a trend. The records for 2025 show recorded pleas and not the reasons for them, and they leave out offenses and sentences. The federal and court-martial figures count different groups over different calendars. This post reports the counts and does not advise any course of action. ### How We Counted Courts-martial with a trial date in 2025 and a plea recorded (959). Federal: people sentenced in fiscal year 2025 (66,662, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants whose cases ended that fiscal year (82,042, 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 2024: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-vs-court-martial-guilty-plea-rates-2024/) (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.