How Navy-Marine Corps Larceny Cases Ended in 2021

Trends › By Offense › Article 121 › Navy-Marine Corps, 2021

Based on 38 cases · 2021 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

No Full Acquittals at Trial

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In 2021, 12 larceny cases were contested and reached a verdict. 0 of 12 ended in a full acquittal. For all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year, the full-acquittal rate was 26%.

3 of those 12 cases ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

The number of cases is small. A single acquittal would have changed the rate. The records do not describe the evidence behind any verdict.

Plea Records Were Complete

Every case in this group lists a plea: 26 guilty pleas and 12 not-guilty or mixed pleas. That makes 32% contested, the same as the 32% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021.

Confinement for Most, but Not All

76% of the 38 convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, about the same as the 7-month median for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of terms were 1 year or longer.

These are adjudged sentences, the punishment set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case, including the false statement and orders charges often filed with larceny.

Length of Confinement

12 convictions (32%) included under 6 months of confinement and 11 (29%) included 6 months to 1 year. Both shares were about the same as for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Another 9 convictions (24%) had no confinement, higher than the 15% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.

6 of 38 convictions (16%) included confinement longer than one year, compared with 26% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Of those, 5 were between 1 and 5 years and 1 was 5 years or more.

General Versus Special Courts-Martial

The median confinement was 1.3 years at the 12 general courts-martial and 5 months at the 26 special courts-martial. Contested shares were 42% at the general level and 27% at the special level.

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. General courts-martial made up 32% of this group.

Punitive Discharges

Of 37 convicted enlisted members, 23 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (62%), about the same as the 64% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Only 4 of those were dishonorable.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation afterward. These records do not cover separations.

Rank and Other Charges

Among the accused with rank recorded, 23 were junior enlisted members and 14 were NCOs.

At least one other article was charged in 31 of the 38 cases. Article 107 (false official statement) was the most common, in 15, followed by Article 92 (orders violation) in 10, Article 134 (general article) in 8, Article 121a (fraudulent use of credit cards, debit cards) in 7, and Article 131b (obstruction) in 6.

The records do not break down sentences by rank, so they cannot show whether junior enlisted members and NCOs received different sentences in this group.

Compared With 2020

There were 32 cases in 2020 and 38 in 2021. Every sentence measure in the comparison table was higher in 2021. Convictions with confinement went from 59% to 76%. Median confinement went from 4 months to 8 months. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 43% to 62%. The general court-martial share went from 25% to 32%.

The contested share went from 14% to 32%, but the 2020 figure is based on incomplete plea records. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict were 0 of 2 in 2020 and 0 of 12 in 2021. In small groups, a few cases can change the figures a great deal, so these changes show direction only.

Installations and What the Records Omit

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 10 of these cases, Camp Pendleton, California had 8, San Diego, California had 5, Bremerton, Washington had 4, and Okinawa, Japan had 2. Together they account for 76% of the 38 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or plea terms. They leave out larceny handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 121 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 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.