What Happens to Navy-Marine Corps Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing Domestic Violence Charges?

Trends › By Offense › Article 128b › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 90 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Cases Increased Each Year

Article 128b covers domestic violence. It applies only to offenses on or after January 1, 2019. Conduct before that date was charged under other articles, so the yearly count is 0 in 2017 and 2018. The first case here was tried in September 2019.

The yearly counts were 1 in 2019, 4 in 2020, 8 in 2021, 8 in 2022, 18 in 2023, 24 in 2024, and 27 in 2025. The records show 90 cases through December 2025.

Most of the Accused Pleaded Guilty

Of the 86 records that list a plea, 65 were guilty pleas and 21 were contested. A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, with a not-guilty or mixed plea.

The contested share was 24%. That is lower than the 33% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases. Junior enlisted members in this group pleaded guilty more often than the accused in all domestic violence cases.

Verdicts in Contested Cases

Of the 21 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal. That is a 14% full-acquittal rate, about the same as the 15% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases.

Another 5 cases were partial acquittals. The accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. A partial acquittal still leads to sentencing on the remaining guilty findings.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common Here

Of 87 convicted enlisted members, 58 received a punitive discharge: 51 bad-conduct discharges and 7 dishonorable discharges. That is 67%, higher than the 61% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases.

A punitive discharge is part of the court-martial sentence. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not show administrative separations.

Confinement

Of the 87 sentences, 74 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the median for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1 year or longer.

Each sentence range was close to the comparison group. Sentences under 6 months made up 43% of convictions here and 41% overall. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 28%, compared with 25%. No confinement was imposed in 15% of convictions, compared with 17%.

Confinement longer than one year was imposed in 13 of 87 convictions (15%). That is about the same as the 16% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases. These are adjudged sentences: the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Of the 90 cases, 63 were special courts-martial and 27 were general courts-martial. General courts-martial made up 30%. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.

Sentences were longer at the general court-martial level. At general courts-martial, 96% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1.1 years. At special courts-martial, 81% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 3 months.

Other Charges in These Cases

Of the 90 cases, 52 charged at least one other article. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was the most common other charge, in 16 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 14, Article 92 (orders violation) in 11, Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) in 8, and Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019) in 7.

Share of All Cases and Installations

Junior enlisted members made up 62% of the accused across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases. Most of the service's domestic violence courts-martial charged junior enlisted members.

Camp Pendleton, California tried the most of these cases, with 20. San Diego, California, Norfolk, Virginia, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay had 9 each. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 8. Together they account for 61% of the 90 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone says little about any one base.

Law Changes and the Limits of the Records

Domestic violence is a covered offense. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute it. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on the offense date, which these records do not include. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both the old and new rules.

The records include only cases tried by court-martial. Cases closed through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

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.