> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Drug at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2018: The Year in Numbers
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2018/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:15:54.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T01:46:44.000Z
- Description: In 2018, 126 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial charged Article 112a (drug). Of convicted enlisted members, 77% received a punitive discharge, higher than the 66% across all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Only 9% of the cases with a plea on record were contested, compared with 28% overall.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 112a, Navy-Marine Corps

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 112a](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-112a-courts-martial/) › Navy-Marine Corps, 2018

**Short answer:** In 2018, 126 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial charged Article 112a (drug). Of convicted enlisted members, 77% received a punitive discharge, higher than the 66% across all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Only 9% of the cases with a plea on record were contested, compared with 28% overall.

Based on 126 cases · 2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Punitive Discharges Were More Common Than Elsewhere

Of 116 convicted enlisted members, 89 received a punitive discharge: 76 bad-conduct and 13 dishonorable. That share, 77%, was higher than the 66% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018\. It was also higher than the 72% for these cases in 2017.

For an enlisted member, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. For an officer, the equivalent is dismissal. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer in the group was sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## Almost Every Conviction Included Confinement

Of 118 convictions, 114 included confinement. Only 4 convictions (3%) included no confinement, compared with 15% across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018.

Most sentences were under one year. Sentences under 6 months were 49 convictions (42%), compared with 32% overall. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year were 44 (37%), compared with 23%. The median confinement was 6 months, shorter than the 7 months across the Navy and Marine Corps.

Long sentences were less common. Sentences longer than one year were 21 of 118 convictions (18%), compared with 30% overall. Only 6 were 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018 |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 4           | 3%         | 15%                                            |
| Under 6 months                  | 49          | 42%        | 32%                                            |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 44          | 37%        | 23%                                            |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 15          | 13%        | 20%                                            |
| 5 years or more                 | 6           | 5%         | 9%                                             |

## Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial handled 96 of the 126 cases, and general courts-martial handled 30\. The general court-martial share, 24%, was lower than the 45% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018.

A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The median confinement was 5 months at special courts-martial and 2 years at general courts-martial. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge or confinement longer than one year. All 13 dishonorable discharges and all 21 sentences longer than one year came from the 30 general courts-martial.

## Many Drug Cases Had No Other Charge

Article 112a was the only charge in 56 of the 126 cases. When other articles were charged, the most common were Article 92 (orders violation) in 23 cases, Article 86 (AWOL) in 15, Article 128 (assault) in 12, and Article 81 (conspiracy) and Article 107 (false official statement) in 11 each.

Sentences cover every conviction in a case. The figures above include both drug-only cases and cases with other charges.

## Many Records Do Not List the Plea

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. Only 54 of the 126 records here list one. Of those, 49 were guilty pleas and 5 were not-guilty or mixed pleas. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.

The contested share was 9%, compared with 28% for the Navy and Marine Corps overall. The year-to-year table shows all 5 contested cases that reached a verdict as full acquittals. These counts are small and come from a partial plea record, so they cannot show how contested drug cases usually ended.

## 2018 Compared With 2017

The number of cases went from 150 in 2017 to 126 in 2018\. The median confinement was 6 months in both years. Convictions with confinement went from 95% to 97%.

The contested share went from 10% to 9%. The general court-martial share went from 28% to 24%. Enlisted punitive discharges rose from 72% to 77%. In groups of this size, a few cases can change these figures, so the changes show direction more than size.

|                                     | 2017     | 2018     |
| ----------------------------------- | -------- | -------- |
| Cases                               | 150      | 126      |
| Contested (of pleas recorded)       | 10%      | 9%       |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 6 of 8   | 5 of 5   |
| Convictions with confinement        | 95%      | 97%      |
| Median confinement                  | 6 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted)       | 72%      | 77%      |
| General courts-martial              | 28%      | 24%      |

## Rank and Location

Of the accused with rank recorded, 95 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 24 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 were officers or warrant officers. That mix is more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018, where 61% were junior enlisted.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 21 of these cases. Camp Pendleton, California tried 19, Norfolk, Virginia 15, and San Diego, California, and Bremerton, Washington 11 each. Together they account for 61% of the 126 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

## Under the Pre-2019 Rules

These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. That law later set fixed panel sizes, added judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied here.

Only cases that reached a courtroom appear. Drug use handled through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action is not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 112a on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com). Dates and sources for the law changes: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in 2018 that charged Article 112a (126 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year and with 2017.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-112a-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub)
- [Navy-Marine Corps Article 112a Cases in 2017](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2017/) (previous / next)
- [How Navy-Marine Corps Drug Cases Ended in 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2019/) (previous / next)
- [Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-trend-2017-2025/) (the full trend)
- [Drug at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2020: The Year in Numbers](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2020/)
- [How Navy-Marine Corps Drug Cases Ended in 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2022/)
- [How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-sent-2017-2025/)
- [S3 E52: What You Need to Know About Positive UAs in the Military](https://www.bodiesburied.com/s3e52-what-you-need-to-know-about-positive-uas-in-the-military/) (podcast, members)
- [Article 112a explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

← Previous: [Navy-Marine Corps Article 112a Cases in 2017](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2017/)Next: [How Navy-Marine Corps Drug Cases Ended in 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-112a-2019/) →

**Compare: federal court.** [Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-no-crime-of-drug-use-article-112a/) · [Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-distribution-importation-vs-article-112a/)

**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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.