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

Trends › By Offense › Article 80 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 182 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most Cases Included Other Charges

Article 80 makes it a crime to attempt another offense, so an attempt charge always refers to some other offense. Of the 182 cases, 162 also charged at least one other article.

The most common other charge was Article 120b (child sexual abuse), in 52 cases. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 49, Article 128 (assault) in 42, and Article 120 (sexual assault) and Article 112a (drug) in 35 each. A sentence covers every charge, so the figures below are for the whole case.

Most Pleaded Guilty

Of the 123 records out of 182 that show a plea, 97 were guilty pleas and 26 were contested. A contested case involves a not-guilty plea to at least one charge, including mixed pleas. The contested share, 21%, is lower than the 31% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so fewer records are counted here than the total.

Results of Contested Cases

Of the 26 contested cases that reached a verdict, 15% ended in a full acquittal. That is about the same as the 18% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. Another 4 cases ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.

Confinement by Length

There were 178 convictions, and 166 included confinement. The median confinement was 1.2 years, shorter than the 1.5 years for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. A quarter of sentences were 2.5 years or more.

More of these sentences were in the 6 months to 1 year band: 28% compared with 22%. Fewer were 5 years or more: 12% compared with 16%. Only 7% of convictions brought no confinement, compared with 9%.

In all, 90 of 178 convictions (51%) brought more than one year, slightly less often than the 55% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Punitive Discharges in Most Convictions

Of 178 convicted members, 152 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. That 85% share is about the same as the 84% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. Of the discharges, 72 were dishonorable.

A dishonorable discharge requires a general court-martial. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.

Sentences at Each Court Level

General courts-martial heard 133 of the 182 cases (73%), slightly lower than the 77% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. Special courts-martial heard the other 49. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement.

Confinement was common at both levels: 94% of general court-martial convictions and 92% of special court-martial convictions included it. The median confinement was 1.7 years at general courts-martial and 6 months at special courts-martial.

Cases by Year

There were 27 cases in 2017, 29 in 2018, 20 in 2019, 25 in 2020, and 35 in 2021. There were 15 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 15 in 2025. The most cases were in 2021, and the fewest were in 2023.

Junior enlisted members made up 56% of the accused in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 80 cases. Junior enlisted members were the larger group in the service's attempt cases.

Installations and Law Changes

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 23 of these cases. Okinawa, Japan tried 22, Camp Pendleton, California 18, and Bremerton, Washington and San Diego, California 13 each. These five account for 49% of the 182 cases. Larger installations try more cases of all kinds.

New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding involves an offense after December 27, 2023, and special trial counsel now decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. The records give trial dates but not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to 2024 and 2025 trials.

What the Records Do Not Show

Only cases that went to court-martial appear. The data do not include nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, the evidence, or plea terms.

The records also do not say what offense was attempted in a given case, beyond the other charges listed. They do not show whether the attempt involved an undercover operation or a real victim. The other charges, not the attempt charge alone, describe the full case that was sentenced.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 80 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.