Navy-Marine Corps Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 128 › Navy-Marine Corps

Based on 1036 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Many Contested Assault Cases Ended in a Full Acquittal

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, and a full acquittal means not guilty of all charges. Of 285 contested cases that reached a verdict, 130 ended in a full acquittal (46%), higher than the 31% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Another 36 (13%) ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Assault cases were also contested more often. Of 698 records that list a plea, 285 were contested and 413 were guilty pleas. That makes 41% contested, compared with 32% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or not guilty.

Fewer Assault Cases Over Time

Assault was charged in 28% of the 3,740 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in these years. The yearly count went down over the period: 2017: 182, 2018: 161, 2019: 147, 2020: 135, 2021: 133, 2022: 79, 2023: 80, 2024: 61, and 2025: 58.

The share also went down. Shares matter because the total number of cases also changed. In 2017–2019, Article 128 was part of 409 of 1243 convictions with offenses listed (33%). In 2023–2025, it was part of 169 of 940 (18%). By single year, the share went from 35% in 2017 to 15% in 2025. The yearly count of these convictions was highest in 2017, at 155.

Sentences About the Same as the Service

Of 1036 cases, 877 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 752 of those sentences included confinement (86%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the sentences were 1.6 years or longer, and 2 were life sentences.

Confinement longer than one year was about as common as in the rest of the service: 234 of 877 convictions (27%), compared with 25%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case.

General and 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.

537 assault cases were general courts-martial (52%) and 499 were special courts-martial. At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1.6 years and 56% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 4 months and 25% were contested.

Other Charges in These Cases

In 691 of the 1036 cases, at least 1 other article was charged. The most common were Article 120 (sexual assault) in 324 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 147, Article 134 (the general article) in 106, Article 80 (attempt) in 88, and Article 120b (sexual abuse of a child) in 84.

A sentence covers every charge. The figures here describe whole cases that included an assault charge, not the assault alone.

Discharges and Dismissals

61% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge (327 bad-conduct discharges and 178 dishonorable discharges), about the same as the 62% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Of 26 convicted officers or warrant officers, 10 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Location

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 64% of the accused, NCOs 32%, and officers 4%. The junior enlisted share was about the same as the 63% in the rest of the service.

Camp Pendleton, California (151), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (129), Norfolk, Virginia (121), San Diego, California (85), and Okinawa, Japan (68) had the most cases. Together they account for 53% of the total. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

Law Changes and Assault

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Article 128 assault is not itself covered, but special trial counsel who take a covered offense can also take related ones, such as an assault tied to a domestic violence allegation.

These rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give. The decline in assault cases happened in the same period as these changes. The records cannot show whether one caused the other.

Limits of the Record

Only cases that went to court-martial appear here. The records do not include the evidence or plea terms. Navy and Marine Corps records from earlier years often omit the plea, so plea counts use only the records that list them.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 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.