How Navy-Marine Corps Drug Cases Ended in 2019

Trends › By Offense › Article 112a › Navy-Marine Corps, 2019

Based on 128 cases · 2019 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Fewer Punitive Discharges Than the Year Before

Of 114 convicted enlisted members, 73 received a punitive discharge: 66 bad-conduct discharges and 7 dishonorable discharges. That 64% share was slightly higher than the 60% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2019. It was lower than the 77% for these cases in 2018.

The group includes 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and none was sentenced to dismissal. A dismissal is the officer counterpart of a punitive discharge. A sentence without either does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.

Most Other Measures Were Unchanged From 2018

The number of cases was almost the same: 126 in 2018 and 128 in 2019. The contested share was 9% in both years. Median confinement was 6 months in both years. The general court-martial share went from 24% to 23%.

Convictions that included confinement went from 97% to 90%. Groups of this size can change by a few cases, so these figures show direction, not precise change.

The largest change was in punitive discharges for enlisted members, which went from 77% to 64%. The records do not show the reason for the change. A group of this size can change noticeably from one year to the next.

Most Confinement Terms Were Under 1 Year

In 117 cases, the accused was convicted of at least one charge, and 105 of those sentences included confinement (90%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the median across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2019.

The most common sentence was under 6 months of confinement: 53 convictions (45%), compared with 35% overall. Another 33 convictions (28%) carried 6 months to 1 year. Confinement of more than one year was adjudged in 19 of 117 convictions (16%), lower than the 24% across the Navy and Marine Corps. No sentence was 5 years or more.

No confinement was adjudged in 12 convictions (10%), compared with 18% overall. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

General courts-martial made up 23% of these cases (30 of 128). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. The other 98 cases were special courts-martial, where confinement is capped at one year.

The median confinement was 1.5 years at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial. The contested share was 13% at the general level and 8% at the special level. A dishonorable discharge and any term above one year are available only at a general court-martial. All 7 dishonorable discharges and all 19 terms of more than one year therefore came from those 30 cases.

Many Cases Charged Only a Drug Offense

Article 112a was the only charge in 65 of the 128 cases. In the cases with other charges, the most common were Article 81 (conspiracy) in 18, Article 92 (orders violation) in 15, Article 86 (AWOL) in 13, and Article 131b (obstruction) and Article 128 (assault) in 9 each.

A sentence covers every conviction in a case. The sentence figures above therefore include both drug-only cases and cases with other charges.

What the Plea Records Show

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave out the plea. Only 67 of the 128 records here list one. Of those, 61 accused pleaded guilty and 6 contested at least one charge. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.

The 9% contested share compares with 28% across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2019. The year-over-year table counts 5 of the 6 decided contested cases as full acquittals. These numbers are small and come from a partial record, so they are not a reliable measure of how contested drug cases ended.

Rank and Installations

Among the accused with rank recorded, 88 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 29 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 4 were officers or warrant officers. These cases involved junior enlisted members more often than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2019, where 57% were junior enlisted.

Bremerton, Washington, tried 24 of these cases. Camp Pendleton, California, tried 22; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and San Diego, California, tried 19 each; and Norfolk, Virginia, tried 9. Together they account for 73% of the 128. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

What the Records Do Not Show

The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Drug cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation do not appear at all. Many records list no plea, and for those there is no way to tell whether the case was contested or resolved by a guilty plea. The contested figures above use only the records that list a plea.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 112a on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare · Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

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.