What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Intimate Image Conviction?

Trends › By Offense › Article 117a › What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corp

Based on 21 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Fewer Punitive Discharges, None Dishonorable

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Of 20 enlisted members convicted under Article 117a, 8 received one (40%). That was lower than the 62% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years. All 8 were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable.

No officers were convicted in these cases. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not cover.

Shorter Confinement, and Often None

Confinement was part of 67% of the 21 convictions. Half of those terms were 5 months or less. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions was 6 months. A quarter of the terms were 10 months or longer.

No confinement was adjudged in 7 convictions (33%), compared with 18% across the service. Confinement of more than one year was adjudged in 2 of 21 convictions (10%), compared with 25% across the service. No sentence was 5 years or more, compared with 7% for the service.

These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Of the 21 cases, 4 were general courts-martial and 17 were special courts-martial. The general court-martial share of 19% compares with 41% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.

The court level sets the maximum sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. The records cannot show whether the court level affected the lighter sentences here.

More of These Cases Were Contested

Every case here ended in a conviction, but not every accused pleaded guilty. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 21 cases, 6 were contested and 15 were guilty pleas. The contested share of 29% compares with 24% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.

Every case on this page ended in a conviction, so each contested case ended with a guilty finding on at least one charge. A contested plea can cover only some charges. Some of these accused may have pleaded guilty to other charges in the same case.

Other Charges in the Case

Article 117a was the only charge in 7 of the 21 cases. The other cases included charges such as Article 92 orders violations in 4, Article 134 the general article in 3, and Article 131b obstruction, Article 128b domestic violence, and Article 120c indecent recording and exposure in 2 each.

A sentence covers every finding. In a case with several charges, the sentence covers all of the convictions, not the image offense alone.

Who Was Convicted, and Where

The convicted were 15 junior enlisted members and 5 NCOs. No officers were convicted. The convicted here were more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years.

San Diego, California, had the most of these cases, with 8. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Camp Pendleton, California, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, each had 2, and MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, had 1. Together those 5 installations account for 71% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a higher count does not by itself show a local problem.

A Recent Offense in the Records

All 21 convictions came in trials from January 2021 through September 2025: 3 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. The records hold no such cases from 2017 through 2020. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea.

Article 117a is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Earlier, the Military Justice Act of 2016, effective January 1, 2019, brought written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months. All of these rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give.

What the Records Do Not Show

The records show only cases tried by court-martial that ended in a conviction. They do not describe the images or other evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. They cannot show whether any rule change affected these sentences.

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.