Navy-Marine Corps Article 133 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 133 › Navy-Marine Corps

Based on 54 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Almost All of the Accused Were Officers

Of the accused with a recorded rank, 45 were officers, 1 was an NCO, and 0 were junior enlisted members. The group is more senior than the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.

This affects the sentences. For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. The officer equivalent is a dismissal.

More Contested Cases, Fewer Full Acquittals

The plea is listed in 41 of the 54 records: 20 guilty pleas and 21 cases where the accused contested at least one charge. The contested share was 51%, higher than the 32% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so these counts use only the records that list one.

Only 1 of 21 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. That 5% full-acquittal rate is lower than the 31% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Another 8 were partial acquittals: the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Many Convictions Included No Confinement

Of 50 convictions, 24 included confinement. No confinement was imposed in 52% of convictions, compared with 18% service-wide. When confinement was imposed, the median was 9 months, longer than the 6 months in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of those sentences were 1.5 years or longer. The convictions included 1 life sentence.

Sentences of 5 years or more made up 10% of convictions, compared with 7% service-wide. Sentences between 1 and 5 years made up 4%, compared with 18%. Overall, confinement longer than one year was imposed in 7 of 50 convictions (14%), compared with 25%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.

Sentences by Court Level

A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dismissal or dishonorable discharge. General courts-martial made up 67% of these cases (36 of 54). The rest were special courts-martial, which are limited to one year of confinement.

At general courts-martial, 67% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 10 months. At special courts-martial, 12% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 2 months.

Case Counts by Year

The cases were tried from April 2017 to November 2025. There were never more than 9 in a year. The yearly counts from 2017 through 2025 were 5, 8, 9, 6, 8, 4, 3, 4, and 7. Together they are 1% of the 3,740 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years.

As a share of all convictions with offenses listed, Article 133 was part of 19 of 1,243 convictions (2%) in 2017–2019. It was part of 13 of 940 (1%) in 2023–2025, about the same share. Convictions including the article were highest in 2021, with 8.

Convictions Including Article 133 by Year

Yearly convictions that included Article 133 were 5 in 2017, 7 in 2018 and 2019, 6 in 2020, 8 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 6 in 2025.

Other Charges and Installations

In 48 of the 54 cases, Article 133 was charged with at least one other article. The most common were Article 134 (general article) in 14 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 13, Article 128 (assault) in 11, Article 107 (false official statement) in 8, and Article 120 (sexual assault) in 6.

Norfolk, Virginia tried 10 of these cases. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 8, Camp Pendleton, California 5, Quantico, Virginia 5, and San Diego, California 4. Together they account for 59% of the total. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count says little about any one base.

Law Changes and the Limits of the Records

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes and brought in written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. Each rule depends on offense dates, which the records do not include. The records cannot show whether any rule affected these numbers.

The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.

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.