Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
In the 116 Navy and Marine Corps cases from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 120b (child sexual abuse), the median adjudged confinement was 3 years. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas was 6 months.
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Short answer: In the 116 Navy and Marine Corps cases from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges that included Article 120b (child sexual abuse), the median adjudged confinement was 3 years. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas was 6 months. 97% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge, compared with 60% for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas.
Guilty Pleas and Confinement
This page covers only guilty-plea cases, and only those in which the charges included Article 120b. All 116 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 115 of those sentences included confinement (99%).
The median confinement was 3 years. For all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in the same years, the median was 6 months. A quarter of the Article 120b sentences were 8.5 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case, not only the Article 120b count.
Length of Confinement
90 of 116 convictions (78%) included confinement longer than one year, compared with 21% for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. The most common range was 5 years or more: 49 convictions (42%), compared with 5% for all guilty pleas. Terms of more than 1 year and under 5 years were 41 convictions (35%), compared with 16%.
Only 1 conviction included no confinement, and 4 (3%) included less than 6 months. For all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas, those shares were 15% and 40%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 1 | 1% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 4 | 3% | 40% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 21 | 18% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 41 | 35% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 49 | 42% | 5% |
Almost Every Conviction Included a Punitive Discharge
Among 112 convicted enlisted members, 109 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (97%), compared with 60% for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. Of those discharges, 79 were dishonorable, the more severe kind, which only a general court-martial can impose.
All 4 convicted officers or warrant officers were dismissed, the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. An enlisted member without a punitive discharge could still face a later administrative separation. These records do not cover it.
Almost All Cases Were General Courts-Martial
108 of the 116 cases (93%) were general courts-martial. The rest were special courts-martial. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, so all 90 convictions with more than one year of confinement were at general courts-martial.
Other Charges in These Cases
Article 120b was the only charge in 23 of the 116 cases. The most common other charges were Article 134 (general article) and Article 80 (attempt), each in 44 cases. Article 128 (assault) and Article 120 (sexual assault) each appeared in 23, and Article 82 (solicitation) in 12.
A sentence covers every charge. In cases with several other charges, the sentence covers more than the child sexual abuse charge.
Year by Year
The cases were tried from January 2017 through November 2025. By year: 21 in 2017, 10 in 2018, 11 in 2019, 7 in 2020, 24 in 2021, 9 in 2022, 11 in 2023, 15 in 2024, and 8 in 2025.
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so this post counts only cases whose records list a guilty plea. Counts for the earlier years are based on incomplete records. All counts use trial dates, not offense dates.
Who Pleaded Guilty, and Where
The accused were 65 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 47 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 4 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more senior than all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas, where 65% were junior enlisted.
San Diego, California had the most of these cases (17), followed by Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (11), Bremerton, Washington (10), Okinawa, Japan (9), and Norfolk, Virginia (7). Together those installations account for 47% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count does not by itself show anything about a base.
Rule Changes Across These Years
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, bringing written plea agreements, fixed panel sizes, and judge-alone special courts-martial. Article 120b 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 sentences within new sentencing parameters.
Both of the later changes depend on the offense date. These records do not give offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both old and new rules. The records cannot show whether any of these changes affected the numbers here.
What the Records Do Not Show
Only cases that went to court-martial appear. Cases closed through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records also do not include the evidence or the terms of each plea agreement.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 120b 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 120b (child sexual abuse) (116 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 120b (Rape and Sexual Assault of a Child): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- Fewer or More? Child Sexual Abuse Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Conviction?
- Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended
- Pleading Guilty to Article 120b in the Army: What Sentences Followed? (another service)
- Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next (another service)
- Article 120b explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Compare: federal court. Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial
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.