Is Navy-Marine Corps Article 121a Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 121a, 2017–2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 121a › Navy-Marine Corps

Based on 45 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Cases by Year

There were very few card fraud cases at the start of the period. The records show 1 case in 2017 and none in 2018, then 4 in 2019 and 5 in 2020. There were 11 in 2021, followed by 8 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 7 in 2025. The 45 cases, tried between October 2017 and October 2025, make up 1% of the 3,740 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years.

Convictions including Article 121a were highest in 2021, at 11, which was 3% of convictions with offenses listed. In 2017–2019, the offense was part of 5 of 1,243 convictions (0%). In 2023–2025, it was part of 15 of 940 (2%), a larger share. The records show the increase but not the reasons for it.

Mostly Guilty Pleas

Of the 41 records that list a plea, 35 were guilty pleas and 6 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. That makes 15% contested, lower than the 32% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so these counts use only the records that list it.

Short Sentences

Of 44 cases ending in a conviction on at least one charge, 34 included confinement (77%). The median confinement was 5 months, slightly shorter than the 6 months median for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.

Long confinement was rare. Only 2 of 44 convictions (5%) included confinement longer than one year, compared with 25% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. No conviction included 5 years or more. Most terms were under 6 months (43%) or between 6 months and 1 year (30%). 23% of convictions had no confinement, compared with 18% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.

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

Card Fraud Was Often Charged With Larceny

Most cases, 35 of the 45, charged at least one other article. Article 121 (larceny) was the most common other charge, in 20 cases. Article 80 (attempt) appeared in 10, and Article 92 (orders violation), Article 86 (AWOL), and Article 81 (conspiracy) in 6 each.

Larceny was often charged with card fraud. In those cases, the sentences above cover both the larceny and fraud charges, not the card offense alone.

Bad-Conduct Discharges, No Dishonorable Ones

28 of 42 enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge, either bad-conduct or dishonorable. Every one of those 28 was a bad-conduct discharge. For all Navy and Marine Corps cases, 62% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Mostly Special Courts-Martial

Only 8 of the 45 cases were general courts-martial (18%), compared with 43% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. The rest were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

Rank and Installation

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 84% of the accused and NCOs 16%. No officers appear. For all Navy and Marine Corps cases, junior enlisted members were 63% of the accused, so this group is more junior.

Camp Pendleton, California, had 8 cases; San Diego, California, 7; Norfolk, Virginia, 6; and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Bremerton, Washington, 4 each. Those five installations account for 64% of the 45 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so the counts do not identify a problem at any one base.

Rule Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It added written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For offenses after December 27, 2023, judges sentence within new parameters. The records give trial dates only, so they cannot show which rules applied to a given case.

Amounts lost, the evidence, plea terms, and card misuse handled without a court-martial are not in these records.

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.