A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Knox: 2021
Fort Knox tried 14 courts-martial in 2021. NCOs made up 71% of the accused, while across the Army 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Installation › Fort Knox › 2021
Short answer: Fort Knox tried 14 courts-martial in 2021. NCOs made up 71% of the accused, while across the Army 58% of the accused were junior enlisted. Article 92 (orders violation) was charged in 36% of cases, compared with 16% Army-wide, and 55% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 70%.
A Mostly NCO Group of Accused
NCOs (E-5 to E-9) made up 71% of the accused at Fort Knox in 2021. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 14%, and officers 14%. Across the Army, junior enlisted members were 58% of the accused, so this group was more senior than the service as a whole.
Orders Violations and False Statements
All 14 records list charges, and one case can count under several articles. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 5 cases (36%), compared with 16% across the Army.
Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child), Article 128b (domestic violence), Article 90 (willfully disobeying superior officer), and Article 107 (false official statements) each appeared in 3 cases (21%). Each of these shares is higher than the Army share for the same article.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Army docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 5 | 36% | 16% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 21% | 8% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 3 | 21% | 6% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 21% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 21% | 12% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 2 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 14% | 8% |
| Art. 87a Resistance, flight, breach of arrest | 1 | 7% | 2% |
Fewer Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge for an enlisted member is a bad-conduct or a dishonorable discharge. Of 11 convicted enlisted members, 6 received one (55%), less often than the 70% across the Army. Of those 6, 2 were dishonorable.
Of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Confinement
Confinement was part of 69% of the 13 convictions. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the median in the rest of the Army. A quarter of the sentences that included confinement were 1 year or longer.
These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
Pleas, Verdicts, and Forum
In 11 cases the accused pleaded guilty, and 3 were contested, meaning a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 21%, is lower than the 36% in the rest of the Army. Of the 11 guilty pleas, 10 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records note only whether an agreement existed.
Of the 3 contested cases that reached a verdict, 1 ended in a full acquittal. A military judge alone heard 12 cases. Members heard 14%: 1 enlisted panel and 1 officer panel.
Court Level
There were 10 general and 4 special courts-martial. The general share, 71%, is about the same as the 73% in the rest of the Army. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Camp Humphreys and Fort Bliss
Camp Humphreys tried 23 cases in 2021 and Fort Bliss tried 30. Fort Knox had the lowest contested share of the 3, 21%, compared with 52% and 33%. Its median confinement, 6 months, was between the 3 months at Camp Humphreys and the 7 months at Fort Bliss. Its enlisted punitive discharge share, 55%, was lower than the 73% at Fort Bliss.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Knox | 14 | 21% | 1 of 3 | 6 months | 55% |
| Camp Humphreys | 23 | 52% | 7 of 12 | 3 months | 5 of 9 |
| Fort Bliss | 30 | 33% | 3 of 10 | 7 months | 73% |
Gaps in the Records
The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020, and Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They do not show nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, the evidence, or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Knox with a trial date in 2021 (14 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 Knox: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Fort Knox Tried in 2023 (previous / next)
- Inside 39 Courts-Martial at Fort Knox, 2021–2023 (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
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Knox, 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.