Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
In 19 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019), 7 of 17 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge (41%), less often than the 60% for all Navy and Marine…
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 4 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 119b › Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child
Short answer: In 19 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019), 7 of 17 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge (41%), less often than the 60% for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years. The median confinement was 7 months, close to the 6 months service-wide.
An Older Group of Accused
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 47% of the accused, NCOs 42%, and officers 11%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years, junior enlisted members were 65%. NCOs and officers made up a larger part of this group than of the service's guilty pleas overall.
Punitive Discharges for 7 of 17 Enlisted Members
Among 17 enlisted members convicted, 7 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (41%). The rate for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years was 60%. 2 of the 7 were dishonorable discharges.
2 convicted officers or warrant officers also appear here, and neither was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge. Without a punitive discharge, an administrative separation remains possible; these records do not cover it.
Confinement and Its Range
All 19 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 16 of the sentences included confinement (84%). The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.
A quarter of the confinement terms were 2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
Domestic Violence and Assault Charges
Article 119b was the only charge in 8 of the 19 cases. Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 5. Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) each appeared in 2, and Article 116 (riot or breach of peace) in 1.
Court Level
General courts-martial made up 42% of these cases (8 of 19), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement.
Cases Across the Years
The trials ran from March 2017 to November 2025. The records show 1 in 2017, 0 in 2018, 1 in 2019, 0 in 2020, 1 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 2 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 7 in 2025. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the early years may be undercounted.
Which Rules Applied
The window spans the Military Justice Act of 2016, which took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought written plea agreements, fixed panel sizes, and a judge-alone special court-martial limited to six months with no punitive discharge, while offenses before 2019 kept the old rules.
Domestic violence, which appeared in 5 of these cases under Article 128b, is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether covered offenses are prosecuted, a choice commanders made before; sexual assault and murder are also covered. Sentencing by the military judge within new parameters applies when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. Offense dates are not in the records.
Beyond These Records
The records give trial dates only and do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not counted.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 119b (child endangerment) (19 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 119b (Child Endangerment, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- Fewer or More? Child Endangerment Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Child Endangerment Conviction?
- Not Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Article 119b Cases: What Happened at Trial
- Guilty Pleas in Army Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (another service)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Assault Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.