Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2022: 47 Courts-Martial, Year in Review

Trends › By Installation › Joint Base Lewis-McChord › 2022

Based on 47 cases · 2022 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Domestic Violence and the General Article Were Charged Most Often

Charge lists exist for 46 of the 47 cases. Article 134, the general article, was the most common charge, in 16 cases or 35%, compared with 21% in all Army cases that year. Article 128b (domestic violence) was next at 26%, higher than the Army share of 13%.

Assault under Article 128 was charged less often than elsewhere: 20% here, compared with 27%. Article 92 (orders violations) was also less common: 13% compared with 18%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 22% of cases, compared with the Army's 26%. A case with several articles counts under each one.

How Often Contested Cases Ended in Full Acquittal

The records list 14 contested cases with a verdict. A contested case is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. Of these, 7 ended in a full acquittal, a rate of 50%, compared with 38% across the Army.

Another 5 ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so these partial acquittals are visible in the data.

Fewer Contested Cases Than Across the Army

Of 47 cases, 33 accused pleaded guilty and 14 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 30%, compared with 36% across the Army.

32 of the 33 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 1 has no entry. The Army notes whether an agreement existed, not what it contained. By charge, Article 134 cases ended in a guilty plea 69% of the time (11 of 16), the highest among the top charges, while Article 120 cases did so 60% of the time (6 of 10). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.

Conviction Rates by Article

Article 128b had the highest rate of conviction on the charged article: 11 of 12 cases (92%). The median confinement after that conviction was 6 months. Article 134 was next at 13 of 16 (81%), with a median of 5 months.

Article 120 had the lowest rate among the most common charges: 6 of 10 (60%). Those convictions had the longest median confinement, 1.8 years. Assault under Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 7 of 9 cases. Rows overlap because one case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.

Changes From 2021

There were 52 cases in 2021 and 47 in 2022. The contested share went from 37% to 30%. Full acquittals went from 8 of 19 to 7 of 14. The median confinement was 6 months in both years.

Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 70% to 80%. General courts-martial went from 71% to 74% of cases. In groups this size, a few cases can change any of these figures, so the changes show direction, not precision.

Confinement and Discharge After Conviction

Of 40 convictions, 88% included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the Army as a whole. A quarter of the sentences were 8 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover all charges in a case.

Sentences over one year were less common than across the Army: 7 of 40 (18%), compared with 27%. Only 1 conviction (2%) included 5 years or more, compared with 7% across the Army. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than a year; a special court-martial is capped at one year.

32 of 40 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 28 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. That rate, 80%, compares with 76% in the rest of the Army. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

A Military Judge or a Panel?

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge or a panel of members decides guilt. Of 46 cases with the forum listed, a judge alone decided 34 (74%), and members heard 12: 10 enlisted panels and 2 officer panels.

In contested cases, members heard 11 of 13 (85%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the forum split mostly follows the plea split.

Rank, Court Level, and Similar Installations

The accused were 29 junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 17 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. This mix was more junior than the Army overall, where 57% were junior enlisted. There were 35 general and 12 special courts-martial. General courts-martial were 74% of cases, the same as the Army figure. Both levels had a median confinement of 6 months. The contested share was 31% at general and 25% at special courts-martial.

Fort Bragg (51 cases) and Fort Hood (53 cases) tried a similar number of cases. Joint Base Lewis-McChord had the lowest contested share of the 3: 30%, compared with 37% and 40%. Fort Hood had the shortest median confinement, 3 months, and the highest punitive discharge rate, 85%.

What the Records Do Not Show

Trial records show the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. They do not show offense dates, the evidence, plea agreement terms, or misconduct resolved through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

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

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.