24 Domestic Violence Courts-Martial at Fort Bragg, 2021–2023: What the Records Show

Trends › By Installation › Fort Bragg › Article 128b, 2021–2023

Based on 24 cases · 2021–2023 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

The largest difference at Fort Bragg is in punitive discharges. For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. 88% of convicted enlisted members in these cases received one: 17 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. Across Army Article 128b cases in 2021–2023, the share was 75%.

No officers or warrant officers were among the accused. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not cover.

Almost Every Case Was a General Court-Martial

General courts-martial made up 92% of these cases, 22 of 24. Special courts-martial tried the rest. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable discharge.

Article 128b is a covered offense, and special trial counsel, not commanders, now decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. The records do not say who made the charging decision in any of these cases.

A More Senior Group of Accused

The accused were 11 junior enlisted members, 13 NCOs, and 0 officers. That mix was more senior than the rest of the Army.

Domestic violence cases were 19% of the 129 courts-martial at Fort Bragg in 2021–2023. The data includes them from February 2021 to September 2023: 6 in 2021, 10 in 2022, and 8 in 2023. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021.

How Much Confinement?

All 24 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 20 of those sentences included confinement (83%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months across the Army. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 2.5 years or longer.

The confinement ranges were about the same as in the rest of the Army. 17% of convictions included no confinement, compared with 15%. 38% were under 6 months, compared with 41%. Sentences longer than one year were about as common as elsewhere: 6 of 24 (25%) compared with 24%. 2 convictions (8%) included 5 years or more, compared with 5%.

These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

In 9 of the 24 cases, Article 128b was the only charge. The other cases included other articles, most often Article 128 assault in 9, Article 134 the general article in 5, Article 120 sexual assault in 4, Article 92 orders violations in 4, and Article 115 communicating threats in 3.

The sentence covers every finding. In cases with several charges, the sentence covers all of the convictions, not only the domestic violence charge.

Guilty Pleas and Contested Cases

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Fort Bragg, 17 accused pleaded guilty and 7 contested. The contested share was 29%, compared with 33% in Army-wide Article 128b cases.

Of the 17 guilty pleas, 14 are recorded with a plea agreement, and 3 have no entry. Army records note whether an agreement existed but not its terms, so they cannot show any agreed sentence limits.

Who Decided Guilt?

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 19 of these cases, an enlisted panel decided 5, and an officer panel decided 0. Members heard 21% of the cases, compared with 23% across the Army.

Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the forum figures are consistent with the plea figures.

Dates, Definitions, and Gaps

Article 128b applies only to offenses on or after January 1, 2019. Conduct before that date was charged under other articles, so this offense has no long history to compare. The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.

The records show only cases that went to a court-martial. Cases closed by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128b on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

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.