A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Bragg: 2025
Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 48% of Fort Bragg's 29 courts-martial in 2025, compared with 26% across the Army. The contested share was 28%, higher than the Army's 20%. Of 25 convictions, 5 carried 5 years or more of confinement.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Fort Bragg › 2025
Short answer: Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 48% of Fort Bragg's 29 courts-martial in 2025, compared with 26% across the Army. The contested share was 28%, higher than the Army's 20%. Of 25 convictions, 5 carried 5 years or more of confinement.
Domestic Violence Was the Most Common Charge
All 29 records list charges, and a case with several articles appears in several rows. Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 14 cases, or 48%, compared with 26% Army-wide. The next most common was Article 134 (general article), in 24% of cases, close to the Army's 22%.
Article 128 (assault) was less common than across the Army, in 10% of cases compared with 19%. Other charges included Article 120 (sexual assault) in 14%, Article 80 (attempts) in 10%, and Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) in 10%. With counts this small, a single case changes a share by several percentage points.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 14 | 48% | 26% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 24% | 22% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 14% | 11% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 10% | 7% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 10% | 8% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 3 | 10% | 19% |
| Art. 115 Communicating threats | 2 | 7% | 2% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 2 | 7% | 4% |
NCOs Outnumbered Junior Enlisted Members
NCOs made up 48% of the accused, junior enlisted soldiers (E-1 to E-4) 38%, and officers 14%. Across the Army, junior enlisted were 50% of the accused, so the accused here were more senior than Army-wide.
Both convicted officers or warrant officers were dismissed, the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge.
A Higher Share of Contested Cases
A case counts as contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here, 8 cases were contested and 21 ended in guilty pleas, a contested share of 28% compared with 20% Army-wide. All 21 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. Army records note that an agreement existed, not its terms.
Of the 8 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 23 of 28 cases with the forum listed (82%), and members heard 5: 3 enlisted panels and 2 officer panels.
More Sentences of 5 Years or More
Of 25 convictions, 19 included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, the same as across the Army. A quarter of those sentences were 5 years or longer. Sentences of 5 years or more were imposed in 5 of 25 convictions (20%), compared with 11% Army-wide.
Sentences longer than one year were imposed in 8 of 25 convictions (32%), about the same as the Army's 30%. Convictions with no confinement made up 24%, compared with 19%. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 6 | 24% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 32% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 12% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 12% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 5 | 20% | 11% |
Changes From 2024
From 2024 to 2025, the number of cases went from 34 to 29. The median confinement was 8 months in both years. The enlisted punitive discharge share was 70% in both years.
The contested share fell from 38% to 28%. Full acquittals went from 6 of 13 contested cases that reached a verdict to 4 of 8. The share of convictions with confinement fell from 82% to 76%, and the general court-martial share fell from 79% to 66%. These groups are small, so a few cases can change these figures.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 34 | 29 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 38% | 28% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 6 of 13 | 4 of 8 |
| Convictions with confinement | 82% | 76% |
| Median confinement | 8 months | 8 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 70% | 70% |
| General courts-martial | 79% | 68% |
Bad-Conduct Discharges Outnumbered Dishonorable
Of 23 convicted enlisted members, 16 received a punitive discharge: 13 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. In the rest of the Army, the share was 73%. A sentence that includes no punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Court Levels
The cases included 19 general and 9 special courts-martial, with 1 not listed. The general share was 68%, about the same as the 66% Army-wide. 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 cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Installations With Similar Caseloads
Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Fort Bliss tried a similar number of cases. Both had lower contested shares: 11% and 7%. Joint Base Lewis-McChord recorded 1 full acquittal in 3 contested cases that reached a verdict, and Fort Bliss recorded 0 of 2. The median confinement was 1 year at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and 9 months at Fort Bliss. The enlisted punitive discharge share was 70% at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and 62% at Fort Bliss.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Bragg | 29 | 28% | 4 of 8 | 8 months | 70% |
| Joint Base Lewis-McChord | 28 | 11% | 1 of 3 | 1 year | 70% |
| Fort Bliss | 27 | 7% | 0 of 2 | 9 months | 62% |
Rules That Turn on Offense Dates
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, a group that includes domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case covers an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new parameters. These records do not give offense dates, so 2025 trials include cases under both the old and the new rules. The data cannot show whether either change affected the numbers.
Evidence, plea terms, and conduct handled outside a court-martial are also absent from the records.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Bragg with a trial date in 2025 (29 cases).
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Fort Bragg: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Bragg: 2024 (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Fort Bragg, 2024–2026? 85 Courts-Martial (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2024
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2025
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2022
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2023
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2025
- S1 H6: Shady Sh*t Going Down at Fort Liberty (podcast, members)
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Bragg, 2025
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.