Jacksonville, Florida and Washington, D.C., 2013–2018: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
Jacksonville, Florida had 78 courts-martial from 2013–2018, and Washington, D.C. had 76.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Jacksonville, Florida › vs. Washington, D.C.
Short answer: Jacksonville, Florida had 78 courts-martial from 2013–2018, and Washington, D.C. had 76. At Jacksonville, 25% of contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (4 of 16), against 45% at Washington, D.C., and Article 112a (drug offenses) was charged in 26% of cases, against 12%.
Drug and Orders Charges Were More Common
76 of the 78 Jacksonville cases have a charge list. One case can fall under several articles.
Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) was charged in 26% of Jacksonville cases and 12% of Washington, D.C. cases. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) was charged in 18% and 5%. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 12% and 4%.
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge at Jacksonville, in 32% of cases, but it was more common at Washington, D.C., in 47%. Article 107 (false official statements) appeared in 8% of Jacksonville cases and 16% of Washington, D.C. cases. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 21% and 28%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 24 | 32% | 47% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 20 | 26% | 12% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 16 | 21% | 28% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 14 | 18% | 5% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 11 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 134 General article | 11 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 9 | 12% | 4% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 9 | 12% | 7% |
Fewer Full Acquittals at Jacksonville
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. 16 contested cases at Jacksonville reached a verdict, and 4 ended in a full acquittal (25%). At Washington, D.C., 13 of 29 did (45%).
2 more Jacksonville cases were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
Guilty Pleas
Jacksonville had 62 guilty pleas and 16 contested cases. The contested share was 21%, lower than the 39% at Washington, D.C.
Guilty pleas varied by charge. Cases charging Article 112a ended in a guilty plea 95% of the time (19 of 20), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 120 did so 50% of the time (8 of 16). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.
The Same Median Confinement
74 Jacksonville cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 65 of those sentences included confinement (88%). The median confinement was 6 months at both Jacksonville and Washington, D.C. 1 Jacksonville sentence was life.
Sentences of more than one year came about as often at both: 19 of 74 Jacksonville convictions (26%), against 27%. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 27% of Jacksonville convictions and 17% of Washington, D.C. convictions.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Washington, D.C. cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 9 | 12% | 13% |
| Under 6 months | 26 | 35% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 20 | 27% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 16 | 22% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 4% | 8% |
Conviction Shares on the Top Charges
Article 112a and Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article in every case that charged them: 20 of 20 and 14 of 14. The median confinement was 6 months for Article 112a and 8 months for Article 92.
Article 128 ended in a conviction in 20 of 24 cases (83%), with a median of 1.1 years. Article 120 ended in a conviction in 12 of 16 cases (75%), with a median of 1.2 years. 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 | 24 | 20 (83%) | 1.1 years |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 20 | 20 (100%) | 6 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 16 | 12 (75%) | 1.2 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 14 | 14 (100%) | 8 months |
Punitive Discharges
47 of 71 convicted enlisted members at Jacksonville received a punitive discharge (66%): 33 bad-conduct discharges and 14 dishonorable discharges. At Washington, D.C., the share was 59%.
2 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Jacksonville records, and none was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Court Level and Rank
33 of the 78 Jacksonville cases were general courts-martial (42%), against 57% at Washington, D.C. General courts-martial produced a median confinement of 1.7 years, and 33% were contested. The 45 special courts-martial produced a median of 4 months, and 11% were contested.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 45 were junior enlisted, 29 were NCOs, and 3 were officers. The sheet describes this group as more junior than the accused at Washington, D.C.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville, Florida | 78 | 21% | 4 of 16 | 6 months | 66% |
| Washington, D.C. | 76 | 39% | 13 of 29 | 6 months | 59% |
Years and the Law Before 2019
The records run from January 2013 through November 2018. By year: 2013: 20, 2014: 22, 2015: 16, 2016: 1, 2017: 6, 2018: 13.
All of these trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied here.
Limits of This Data
The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences, but not the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Jacksonville, Florida (78) and Washington, D.C. (76) with trial dates in 2013–2018. Each figure for Jacksonville, Florida is set beside the same figure for Washington, D.C..
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
- Jacksonville, Florida: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Washington, D.C.: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Camp Pendleton, California: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2013–2018
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Camp Pendleton, California and San Diego, California, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
- Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.