Kaiserslautern (Europe) in 2021: 13 Courts-Martial, Year in Review
The Army records list 13 courts-martial at Kaiserslautern (Europe) in 2021, all tried from January through May. The contested share was 54%, compared with 36% across the Army, and members decided 54% of cases, compared with 22% Army-wide.
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Trends › By Installation › Kaiserslautern (Europe) › 2021
Short answer: The Army records list 13 courts-martial at Kaiserslautern (Europe) in 2021, all tried from January through May. The contested share was 54%, compared with 36% across the Army, and members decided 54% of cases, compared with 22% Army-wide. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged in 42% of cases with charges listed.
Panels Decided More Cases
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Enlisted panels decided 6 cases and an officer panel decided 1. A military judge alone decided the other 6.
Members heard 54% of the cases, compared with 22% across the Army in 2021.
Contested Cases and Full Acquittals
Of the 13 cases, 7 were contested and 6 ended in a guilty plea. A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 54%, higher than the 36% Army-wide.
Of the 7 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of all charges.
Charges
Charges are listed for 12 of the 13 cases. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 5 cases (42%). The Army-wide shares were 29% and 38%. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 4 cases (33%), compared with 21%.
Article 109, Article 120b, Article 86, Article 107, and Article 121 each appeared in 1 case (8%). A case with several articles counts under each one.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Army |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 42% | 38% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 42% | 29% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 33% | 21% |
| Art. 109 Property other than military; waste, spoilage, destruction | 1 | 8% | 3% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 1 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 1 | 8% | 5% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 1 | 8% | 12% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 1 | 8% | 8% |
Rank and Court Level
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and NCOs each made up 46% of the accused, and officers made up 8%. Across the Army, 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.
General courts-martial heard 9 of the 11 cases with a court level listed (82%). The court level is not listed for 2 cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal.
Camp Humphreys and Fort Bliss
Camp Humphreys tried 23 cases and Fort Bliss tried 30 in the same year. Full acquittals in contested cases were 6 of 7 here, 7 of 12 at Camp Humphreys, and 3 of 10 at Fort Bliss.
The median confinement was 2 months here, 3 months at Camp Humphreys, and 7 months at Fort Bliss. At Kaiserslautern, 5 of 7 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
Contested shares were 52% at Camp Humphreys and 33% at Fort Bliss, both lower than the 54% at Kaiserslautern. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members were 5 of 9 at Camp Humphreys and 73% at Fort Bliss.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaiserslautern (Europe) | 13 | 54% | 6 of 7 | 2 months | 5 of 7 |
| Camp Humphreys | 23 | 52% | 7 of 12 | 3 months | 5 of 9 |
| Fort Bliss | 30 | 33% | 3 of 10 | 7 months | 73% |
When Army Records Begin
The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021.
Limits of the Records
The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not show cases handled by 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 Kaiserslautern (Europe) with a trial date in 2021 (13 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
- Kaiserslautern (Europe): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Kaiserslautern (Europe) Tried in 2024 (previous / next)
- Kaiserslautern (Europe), 2020–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 27 Cases (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 Kaiserslautern (Europe), 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.