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

Trends › By Offense › Article 82 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 62 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Solicitation Almost Always Came With Other Charges

Article 82 covers soliciting or advising another person to commit an offense. It was the only charge in 1 of the 62 cases. In every other case, solicitation was charged with at least one other offense.

The most common other charge was Article 134 (general article), in 29 cases. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 23, Article 81 (conspiracy) in 16, Article 120b (child sexual abuse) in 15, and Article 80 (attempt) in 11. Every sentence described below covers all the charges in the case, not only solicitation.

Confinement Ranged Widely

Confinement was part of 57 of the 62 sentences. The median confinement was 1 year, about the same as the 1.1 years for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 82 cases. A quarter of the sentences were 5 years or longer.

In the band table, 37% of convictions were between 6 months and 1 year, compared with 28% across the service. Another 26% of convictions carried 5 years or more, about the same as the 27% for all Article 82 cases. Only 8% brought no confinement, compared with 12%.

Sentences longer than one year followed 27 of 62 convictions (44%), the same as the 44% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 82 cases. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Discharges in Most Cases

Of the 62 convicted members, 53 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. The 85% share is higher than the 79% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 82 cases. Of the discharges, 22 were dishonorable.

A dishonorable discharge can be adjudged only at 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 by Court Level

General courts-martial heard 36 of the 62 cases, or 58%, and special courts-martial heard 26. At the general level, 94% of convictions brought confinement, with a median of 2.5 years. At the special level, 88% did, with a median of 8 months.

A special court-martial cannot adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge, so all sentences longer than one year in these cases came from general courts-martial.

Most Accused Pleaded Guilty

Of the 41 records out of 62 that show a plea, 32 were guilty pleas and 9 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, 22%, is about the same as the 23% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 82 cases. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and the shares use only records that include one.

Where and When

The number of cases changed from year to year: 9 cases in 2017, 14 in 2018, 4 in 2019, 9 in 2020, 9 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. The records run from January 2017 to November 2025, and the 14 cases in 2018 were the most in any single year.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 17 of the cases. Bremerton, Washington tried 10, Okinawa, Japan 8, Camp Pendleton, California 7, and Norfolk, Virginia 6. Those five installations account for 77% of the 62 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not show a problem at any base.

Junior Enlisted Members Among All Article 82 Cases

Across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 82 cases, junior enlisted members made up 70% of the accused, so these cases are most of the service's solicitation cases. NCOs and officers account for the rest.

Changes in the Law and Limits of the Data

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records have trial dates, not offense dates, so recent trials include cases under both the old and the new rules.

The records do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or any solicitation allegation handled outside a court-martial, such as through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

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.