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

Trends › By Offense › Article 92 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 349 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

A punitive discharge followed 65% of convictions here: 184 bad-conduct discharges and 38 dishonorable discharges. Across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 92 cases, the share was 55%.

A punitive discharge is part of the court-martial sentence. A sentence without one does not rule out an administrative separation later, which these records do not show.

Drug and Assault Charges Were the Most Common Other Charges

Article 92 was the only charge in 36 of the 349 cases. Most cases included other charges: Article 112a (drug) in 110 cases, Article 128 (assault) in 87, Article 107 (false official statement) in 42, and Article 134 (general article) and Article 121 (larceny) in 37 each.

Cases with a drug charge and cases with an assault charge were each more common than cases with Article 92 alone. The sentence covers every conviction in the case, so the discharge and confinement figures here describe the combined charges.

Few Convictions Without Confinement

Confinement was part of 87% of the 340 convictions. The median confinement was 5 months, the same as the 5-month median for the service's Article 92 cases. A quarter of terms were 1 year or longer.

Only 13% of convictions had no confinement, compared with 27% across the service. Terms under 6 months were 47% of convictions, compared with 39%. Terms from 6 months to 1 year were 23%, compared with 19%.

Long terms were uncommon: 58 of 340 convictions (17%) were longer than 1 year, about the same as the 15% overall. Terms of 5 years or more were 4% both here and across the service. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Pleas and How Contested Cases Ended

Of 212 records that list a plea, 151 were guilty pleas and 61 were contested, meaning a not-guilty plea to at least one charge. The contested share was 29%, lower than the 36% for the service's orders violation cases.

Of the 61 contested cases that reached a verdict, 8 ended in a full acquittal (13%), lower than the 17% across the service. Partial acquittals were more common: 18 cases (30%) ended with not-guilty findings on some charges or specifications and guilty findings on others.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial tried 248 of the 349 cases and general courts-martial tried 101. The general court-martial share was 29%. A special court-martial can impose no more than 1 year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The median confinement was 1.5 years at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial. The contested shares were closer: 33% at general courts-martial and 27% at special courts-martial.

Counts Over Time

There were at least 28 cases every year. There were 50 cases in 2017, 35 in 2018, 36 in 2019, 39 in 2020, and 53 in 2021, the highest of the period. There were 36 in 2022, 28 in 2023, 29 in 2024, and 43 in 2025.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. That is why only 212 of the 349 records show one.

Where the Cases Were Tried

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 84 of the cases and Camp Pendleton, California tried 69. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay tried 26, Okinawa, Japan 25, and San Diego, California 20. These 5 locations account for 64% of the 349. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so these counts do not point to a problem at any base.

Junior enlisted members were 59% of the accused across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 92 cases. These cases are the larger part of the service's Article 92 cases.

Rule Changes and What Is Not Recorded

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It added written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial limited to 6 months of confinement. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give only trial dates.

Orders violations handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not included. The records do not describe the order involved, the evidence, or the plea terms.

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.