What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Conviction?

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Based on 190 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Mostly Junior Enlisted, Mostly Special Courts-Martial

Most of the accused in these absence convictions were junior enlisted members. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 82% of the accused, NCOs 16%, and officers 2%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years, junior enlisted were 65%.

Most of these cases were tried at special courts-martial. Only 31 of the 190 were general courts-martial (16%), compared with 41% in all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. The other 159 were special courts-martial. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Shorter Sentences Than Across the Service

Confinement was part of 87% of the 190 convictions. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. A quarter of sentences were 8 months or longer.

Sentences longer than one year were less common: 21 of 190 convictions (11%), compared with 25%. Under 6 months was the most common band, at 52%, compared with 35% across the service. No confinement followed 13% of convictions, compared with 18%.

These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in its case.

General and Special Courts-Martial

At the 31 general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1.5 years, and 40% were contested. At the 159 special courts-martial, the median was 3 months, and 19% were contested.

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, so the general courts-martial in this group were contested more often and had longer sentences. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, and only it can impose a dishonorable discharge.

Contested Cases

Not every conviction here came from a guilty plea. Of the 117 records that list a plea, 26 were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 91 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 22%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, it was 24%.

Of the 26 contested cases, 8 ended in a partial acquittal (31%), meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. This page covers convictions only, so no full acquittals appear in it.

Discharges

A punitive discharge followed 63% of the enlisted convictions: 103 bad-conduct discharges and 9 dishonorable discharges. Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions the figure was 62%.

The records include 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and none was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Drug Charges Were the Most Common Other Charge

Article 86 was the only charge in 36 of the 190 cases. Article 112a (drug offenses) was the most common other charge, in 76 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 45, and Article 107 (false official statement), Article 121 (larceny), and Article 128 (assault) in 24 each. A sentence covers every charge in the case, so these other convictions are included in the confinement and discharge figures.

Years and Installations

The records show 190 cases from January 2017 to December 2025: 38 in 2017, 27 in 2018, 22 in 2019, 26 in 2020, 16 in 2021, 19 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 15 in 2024, and 14 in 2025.

Camp Pendleton, California (47), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (30), Norfolk, Virginia (18), San Diego, California (17), and Bremerton, Washington (16) had the most cases. Together they account for 67% of the 190 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not show a problem at any one base. The yearly count was highest in 2017 and lower in each year from 2021 on, and the records cannot show why.

Rule Changes Across the Period

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced 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. The records give trial dates only, so they cannot show which rules applied to each case.

What the Records Do Not Show

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so plea counts here use the 117 records that list one. The records also do not show the length of each absence, the evidence, or plea terms. Absences handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not included.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 86 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.