Orders Violation at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2021: The Year in Numbers

Trends › By Offense › Article 92 › Navy-Marine Corps, 2021

Based on 88 cases · 2021 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

More Often Contested, Fewer Full Acquittals

The plea is listed in 86 of the 88 records. Of those, 53 accused pleaded guilty and 33 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 38%. Across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2021, it was 32%.

All 33 contested cases reached a verdict, and 3 ended in a full acquittal. That is a 9% full acquittal rate, compared with 26% across the service. Another 12 were partial acquittals, where the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Contested Cases by Court Level

General courts-martial tried 37 of the cases and special courts-martial tried 51. The general court-martial share was 42%, compared with 48% across the service. The contested share was 50% at general courts-martial and 30% at special courts-martial.

A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial can impose no more than 1 year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The median confinement was 1 year at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial.

Shorter Sentences Than the Service

Of 85 convictions, 68 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, slightly lower than the 7 months for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2021.

These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in a case. Nearly all of these cases charged something besides the orders violation.

Few Terms Over 1 Year

Only 12 of the 85 convictions (14%) carried more than 1 year, compared with 26% across the service. Of those, 11 (13%) were between 1 and 5 years and 1 (1%) was 5 years or more, compared with 5% across the service.

Most sentences were in the lower bands. No confinement: 17 convictions (20%), compared with 15%. Under 6 months: 31 (36%), compared with 33%. 6 months to 1 year: 25 (29%), compared with 26%.

Assault and Sexual Assault Charges in the Same Cases

Article 92 was charged with at least one other article in 83 of the 88 cases. Article 128 (assault) was the most common other charge, in 29 cases. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 21, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 20, Article 134 (general article) in 19, and Article 107 (false official statement) in 14.

Many cases included serious other charges. The sentence figures above describe whole cases, not penalties for disobeying an order alone.

Discharges Were About the Same as the Service

A punitive discharge followed 63% of enlisted convictions, about the same as the 64% across the service. There were 37 bad-conduct discharges and 12 dishonorable discharges. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

More Cases Than in 2020

There were 88 cases in 2021, compared with 66 in 2020. The contested share was 38%, compared with 20%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict were 0 of 3 in 2020 and 3 of 33 in 2021. The median confinement was 6 months in both years. Convictions with confinement were 80%, compared with 83%. Enlisted punitive discharges were 63%, compared with 70%, and the general court-martial share was 42%, compared with 33%.

Plea data became far more complete in this period, so the contested shares for each year rest on very different numbers of records. A few cases can also change figures for small groups, so the changes show direction only.

Rank and Installations

Among the accused with rank recorded, 53 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 28 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Junior enlisted members were 69% of all Navy and Marine Corps accused in 2021, so the accused here were more senior.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 34 of these cases. Camp Pendleton, California tried 11, Norfolk, Virginia 8, and San Diego, California and Twentynine Palms, California 5 each. Together these locations account for 72% of the 88. Large bases try more cases of all kinds, so a high count does not by itself show anything unusual about a base.

What the Records Do Not Show

The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, offense dates, or orders violations handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Only trial dates are recorded, so some of these 2021 trials may involve conduct from earlier years. The records also cannot explain why more accused contested their charges this year, or what any plea agreement offered to those who pleaded guilty.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 92 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.