How Much Confinement for an Article 118 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?

Trends › By Offense › Article 118 › How Much Confinement for an Article 118

Based on 14 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most Cases Were Contested

12 of the 14 records list the plea. 7 accused entered a not-guilty or mixed plea, and 5 pleaded guilty. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share, 58%, was higher than the 24% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions from 2017 to 2025.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. The plea counts here use only the records that list it.

Length of Confinement

12 of the 14 convictions carried confinement. The median term was 9.5 years. A quarter of the terms were 25 years or longer, and 2 were life sentences.

These are adjudged sentences. They were set at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

11 of the 14 cases included at least one other article. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 5. Article 119 (manslaughter), Article 92 (orders violation), and Article 80 (attempt) each appeared in 4. Article 129 (burglary before 2019; burglary and unlawful entry since) appeared in 3.

Discharges and Dismissals

73% of the convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 7 dishonorable discharges and 1 bad-conduct discharge. The share for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years was 62%.

2 officers or warrant officers were convicted, and both were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Court Level

Among the accused with rank recorded, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 54%, NCOs were 31%, and officers were 15%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years, 65% were junior enlisted.

General courts-martial made up 86% of these cases (12 of 14). That is the court level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year.

When the Cases Were Tried

The trials ran from February 2018 to November 2025. The yearly counts were 0 in 2017, 3 in 2018, 3 in 2019, 0 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 1 in 2022, 0 in 2023, 1 in 2024, and 2 in 2025.

Rule Changes in These Years

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules.

Article 118 is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute it. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to the trials from 2024 on.

What These Records Leave Out

The records show the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Murder and Manslaughter: 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.