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What Fort Campbell Tried in 2021

Article 128 (assault) was charged in 59% of Fort Campbell's 41 courts-martial in 2021, compared with 38% across the Army. Most cases ended in guilty pleas, and only 22% were contested. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide.

Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read

Trends › By Installation › Fort Campbell › 2021

Short answer: Article 128 (assault) was charged in 59% of Fort Campbell's 41 courts-martial in 2021, compared with 38% across the Army. Most cases ended in guilty pleas, and only 22% were contested. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide.

Based on 41 cases · 2021 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Assault Charged in Most Cases

Charges are listed in all 41 records, with each article counted once per case. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 24 cases. That 59% share was higher than the 38% across all Army cases that year.

Article 107 (false official statement) was also charged more often, in 17% of cases compared with 12%. So was Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child), in 12% compared with 8%. Other charges were less common than Army-wide: Article 120 (sexual assault) at 22% compared with 29%, Article 134 (general article) at 15% compared with 21%, and Article 92 (orders violation) at 7% compared with 16%.

UCMJ ArticleCasesShare hereShare, all Army cases in those years
Art. 128 Assault2459%38%
Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault922%29%
Art. 107 False official statements717%12%
Art. 134 General article615%21%
Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child512%8%
Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances410%12%
Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation37%16%
Art. 108 Military property; loss, damage, destruction37%3%

Most Accused Pleaded Guilty

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Fort Campbell, 32 accused pleaded guilty and 9 contested, a contested share of 22% compared with 36% across the Army.

Plea agreements are recorded for 31 of the 32 guilty pleas, and 1 has no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, not what it contained, so any cap on confinement cannot be read from this data.

Shorter Confinement, More Sentences Without Confinement

Of 37 convictions, 25 carried confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, shorter than the 6 months Army-wide. Convictions with no confinement at all made up 32%, compared with 19% across the Army.

A quarter of sentences were 1.5 years or longer. Sentences of more than one year were imposed in 7 of 37 convictions (19%), compared with 26%. These are adjudged sentences, set before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year.

Adjudged confinementConvictionsShare hereShare, the whole Army docket
No confinement1232%19%
Under 6 months1438%37%
6 months to 1 year411%17%
More than 1 year, under 5 years514%18%
5 years or more25%8%

Conviction Rates for Assault and Sexual Assault

Of 24 cases charging Article 128, 18 ended with a conviction on that article (75%), the highest rate among the top charges. The median confinement for those convictions was 3 months.

Article 120 (sexual assault) had a lower conviction rate. Only 3 of 9 cases charging Article 120 ended in a conviction on that article. Those convictions carried a median of 2.1 years. A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case, so these rows overlap.

ArticleCases charging itConvicted of it (share)Median confinement when convicted of it
Art. 128 Assault2418 (75%)3 months
Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault93 (3 of 9)2.1 years

Discharges After Conviction

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. Among 36 convicted enlisted members, 28 received one (78%), more often than in all Army cases that year (70%). Of those, 8 were dishonorable.

The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer in the records was dismissed, the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Court Level

The accused included 27 junior enlisted soldiers (E-1 to E-4), 13 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer, a more junior group than the rest of the Army, where 58% were junior enlisted.

General courts-martial made up 83% of the cases (34 of 41). That level can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. The remaining cases were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Who Decided Guilt

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 38 of 41 cases (93%), and members heard 3, all on enlisted panels. Most guilty pleas go before a judge alone, so the split mainly follows how few cases were contested.

Compared With Fort Bragg and Fort Hood

Fort Bragg and Fort Hood each tried 45 cases in 2021 and had higher contested shares: 44% and 58%. Fort Campbell recorded 4 full acquittals in 9 contested cases that reached a verdict, compared with 2 of 20 at Fort Bragg and 7 of 26 at Fort Hood.

The median confinement was 6 months at Fort Bragg and 1.1 years at Fort Hood, both longer than the 3 months here. The enlisted punitive discharge share was 69% at Fort Bragg, 86% at Fort Hood, and 78% at Fort Campbell.

InstallationCasesContestedFull acquittals (decided contested)Median confinementPunitive discharge (enlisted)
Fort Campbell4122%4 of 93 months78%
Fort Bragg4544%2 of 206 months69%
Fort Hood4558%7 of 261.1 years86%

Limits of the 2021 Records

The cases here run from January through November 2021. The services had to start publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020, and Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They say nothing about the evidence, the plea terms, or cases handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

How We Counted

Every court-martial tried at Fort Campbell with a trial date in 2021 (41 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.

Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Campbell, 2021

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.

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