When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Drug
This page covers Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 in which the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 112a drug offenses: 442 cases.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 112a › When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Gui
Short answer: This page covers Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 in which the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 112a drug offenses: 442 cases. Their sentences were somewhat shorter than other guilty pleas, with a median confinement of 5 months compared with 6 months. Punitive discharges were about as common: 59% of convicted enlisted members compared with 60%.
442 Guilty Pleas to Drug Charges
The records hold 442 of these cases, tried from January 2017 through December 2025. Every one is a guilty plea, so every one ended in a conviction. The main questions are how long the confinement was and whether a punitive discharge was adjudged.
There were 69 cases in 2017, 49 in 2018, 61 in 2019, 46 in 2020, 81 in 2021, 51 in 2022, 29 in 2023, 36 in 2024, and 20 in 2025. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the earlier years count only records that list one. The records cannot show the reason for the changes in the count.
Most Sentences Were Short
Of 442 convictions, 399 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, lower than the 6 months across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 9 months or longer.
Most sentences were in the short and middle ranges. Terms under 6 months made up 51% of convictions, compared with 40% in all guilty pleas. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 28%, compared with 24%. Confinement of more than one year was adjudged in 50 of 442 convictions (11%), compared with 21%. Only 6 (1%) were 5 years or more, compared with 5%.
These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 43 | 10% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 225 | 51% | 40% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 124 | 28% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 44 | 10% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 6 | 1% | 5% |
Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial
Of the 442 cases, 91 were general courts-martial (21%) and the rest were special courts-martial. The median confinement was 1.1 years at the 91 general courts-martial and 4 months at the 351 special courts-martial.
A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, capped at six months of confinement with no punitive discharge.
How Often Was a Punitive Discharge Adjudged?
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Of 427 convicted enlisted members, 254 received one (59%). That was about the same as the 60% across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. Of those 254, 28 were dishonorable discharges.
The group also includes 9 convicted officers or warrant officers. Of those, 3 were sentenced to dismissal, the officer equivalent. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not cover.
Drug Charges Alone and With Other Charges
Article 112a was the only charge in 193 of the 442 cases. In cases with other charges, the most common were Article 81 conspiracy in 76 cases, Article 92 orders violations in 55, Article 86 AWOL in 43, Article 107 false official statements in 32, and Article 128 assault in 28.
A sentence covers every guilty finding. In cases with several charges, the sentence reflects all of them, not the drug offense alone.
Most of the Accused Were Junior Enlisted
By rank, the accused were 346 junior enlisted members, 81 NCOs, and 9 officers. The accused here were more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.
Where the Cases Were Tried
Bremerton, Washington, had the most of these cases, with 85. San Diego, California, had 65; Norfolk, Virginia, 64; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 46; and Camp Pendleton, California, 39. Together those 5 installations account for 68% of these cases.
Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a particular drug problem.
Law Changes and Missing Information
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought fixed panel sizes and written plea agreements. Cases with offenses before 2019 kept the old rules. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give. The data therefore cannot show whether either change affected these sentences.
The records do not describe the evidence, such as test results, or the terms of any plea agreement. Drug cases closed by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action do not appear.
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.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 112a (drug) (442 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.
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
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025
- How Much Confinement for an Article 112a Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Drug Charge: How Contested Cases Ended
- Guilty Pleas in Army Drug Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (another service)
- Pleading Guilty to Article 112a in the Air Force: What Sentences Followed? (another service)
- S3 E52: What You Need to Know About Positive UAs in the Military (podcast, members)
- Article 112a explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.