Comparing Fort Riley and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
Fort Riley and Fort Benning each had 50 courts-martial in the 2020–2023 records. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 21% of Fort Riley cases, compared with 6% at Fort Benning, and the median confinement at Fort Riley was 8 months, compared with 5 months at Fort Benning.
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Short answer: Fort Riley and Fort Benning each had 50 courts-martial in the 2020–2023 records. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 21% of Fort Riley cases, compared with 6% at Fort Benning, and the median confinement at Fort Riley was 8 months, compared with 5 months at Fort Benning.
Sexual Assault and Assault Charges
48 of the 50 Fort Riley records list the charges. Each article counts once per case, so a case charging two articles counts under both.
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge at Fort Riley, in 40% of cases, against 30% at Fort Benning. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 21% of Fort Riley cases and 6% of Fort Benning cases.
Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior officer) appeared in 15% of Fort Riley cases and 0% of Fort Benning cases. Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 12% against 2%. Article 134 (the general article) was charged at about the same rate at both, 25% and 24%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Fort Benning cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 19 | 40% | 30% |
| Art. 134 General article | 12 | 25% | 24% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 10 | 21% | 6% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 17% | 12% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 17% | 14% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 7 | 15% | 0% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 6 | 12% | 2% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 4 | 8% | 6% |
Confinement After a Conviction
Fort Riley had 45 convictions, and 40 carried confinement. The median confinement was 8 months. At Fort Benning, it was 5 months.
18 of the 45 Fort Riley convictions carried more than one year (40%), against 24% at Fort Benning. Most of those fell in the band from more than 1 year to under 5 years: 38% at Fort Riley and 18% at Fort Benning. 11% of Fort Riley convictions carried no confinement, against 24% at Fort Benning.
These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Fort Benning |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 11% | 24% |
| Under 6 months | 18 | 40% | 40% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 9% | 12% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 17 | 38% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 2% | 6% |
Results on the Top Charges
Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 15 of 19 cases (79%), with a median confinement of 1.4 years. Article 134 ended in a conviction in 9 of 12 cases (75%), with a median of 1.6 years.
Article 120 ended in a conviction on that article in 5 of 10 cases (50%), the lowest share among the top charges, with a median of 1.3 years. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) ended in a conviction in 7 of 8 cases, with a median of 4 months. A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 19 | 15 (79%) | 1.4 years |
| Art. 134 General article | 12 | 9 (75%) | 1.6 years |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 10 | 5 (50%) | 1.3 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 7 (7 of 8) | 4 months |
Same Contested Share at Both Installations
A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. Fort Riley had 41 guilty pleas and 9 contested cases, so 18% were contested. The contested share at Fort Benning was also 18%.
35 of the 41 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 6 have no entry. Army records say whether an agreement existed, not what it said.
Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 92% of the time (11 of 12), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 120 did so 70% of the time (7 of 10). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.
Of the contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 of 8 at Fort Riley ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of every charge. At Fort Benning, 0 of 9 did.
Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge followed 81% of enlisted convictions at Fort Riley: 19 bad-conduct discharges and 16 dishonorable discharges. At Fort Benning, the share was 77%.
2 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Fort Riley records, and 2 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, made up 78% of the 49 Fort Riley cases with a court level listed (38 of 49). At that level, 94% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.3 years.
The 11 special courts-martial had confinement in 70% of convictions, with a median of 4 months. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year. The court level is not listed for 1 case.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Riley | 50 | 18% | 3 of 8 | 8 months | 81% |
| Fort Benning | 50 | 18% | 0 of 9 | 5 months | 77% |
Forum and Rank
Members heard 12% of Fort Riley cases with the forum listed: 5 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. The other 44 were judge alone. The accused usually chooses the forum, and most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
By rank, the accused were 31 junior enlisted members, 16 NCOs, and 3 officers. The sheet describes this group as more junior than the accused at Fort Benning.
Years in the Records
The Fort Riley records run from June 2020 to October 2023. By year: 2020: 2, 2021: 18, 2022: 11, 2023: 19. 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.
What Is Not in the Records
The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not counted.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Riley (50) and Fort Benning (50) with trial dates in 2020–2023. Each figure for Fort Riley is set beside the same figure for Fort Benning.
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 Riley: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Fort Benning: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Camp Humphreys and Fort Riley, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Fort Hood and Fort Campbell: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
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- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Riley, 2020–2023
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.