Domestic Violence at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2024: The Year in Numbers

Trends › By Offense › Article 128b › Navy-Marine Corps, 2024

Based on 51 cases · 2024 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most Sentences Were Under 6 Months

Of 46 convictions, 38 included confinement. The median confinement was 3 months. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2024 was 5 months. The most common sentence range was under 6 months: 27 convictions (59%), compared with 38% service-wide.

Confinement longer than one year was imposed in 5 of 46 convictions (11%). That was less often than the 22% across the service. Of those 5, 4 were between 1 and 5 years and 1 was 5 years or more. Only 8 convictions (17%) included no confinement, lower than the service share of 25%.

Court Level and Sentence Length

Every sentence here is an adjudged sentence. That is the sentence the court announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers all charges in a case, not only the domestic violence charge.

General courts-martial made up 25% of these cases (13 of 51). Special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. At the 13 general courts-martial, 91% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1.3 years. At the 38 special courts-martial, 80% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 3 months.

Guilty Pleas, Full Acquittals, and Partial Acquittals

Of 51 accused, 32 pleaded guilty. The other 19 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 37%, about the same as the 34% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2024.

Of the 19 contested cases that reached a verdict, 5 ended in a full acquittal. That is a 26% full-acquittal rate, about the same as the service rate of 27%. Another 7 were partial acquittals: the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.

Punitive Discharges Were Less Common Than Service-Wide

Of 45 convicted enlisted members, 24 received a punitive discharge: 21 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. That is 53%, lower than the 58% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2024.

The records list 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

What Changed From 2023

Cases increased from 30 to 51. The contested share rose from 27% to 37%. Full acquittals went from 0 of 8 contested cases that reached a verdict to 5 of 19. Median confinement fell from 6 months to 3 months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members fell from 66% to 53%.

Convictions with confinement rose slightly, from 80% to 83%. The general court-martial share fell from 30% to 25%. These are small groups, and a few cases can change any of these figures. The changes show direction, not precision.

Slightly More NCOs Than Junior Enlisted

Among the accused with a recorded rank, 25 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), 24 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Junior enlisted members made up 58% of all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2024, so the accused here were more senior than the service as a whole.

Other Charges and Installations

Article 128b was the only charge in 29 of the 51 cases. The most common other charge was Article 90 (disobeying an officer), in 9 cases. Article 119b (child endangerment), Article 131b (obstruction), and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 3 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 2.

Camp Pendleton, California tried 12 cases. Quantico, Virginia tried 6. Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California tried 4 each, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay tried 3. Together these five installations account for 57% of the total. Large installations try more cases of every kind.

Law Changes and the Limits of the Records

Article 128b covers only offenses on or after January 1, 2019, and it is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023.

Both rules depend on the offense date, which the records do not include. The 2024 trials therefore include cases under both the old and new rules. The records cannot show whether either change affected these numbers. They also do not include the evidence, the plea terms, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action.

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