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# How Much Confinement for an Article 93 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-93-sent-2017-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:07:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:15.000Z
- Description: Navy and Marine Corps records hold 20 convictions under Article 93 (maltreatment) from 2017–2025. Confinement was adjudged in 14. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 93, Navy-Marine Corps

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 93](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-93-courts-martial/) › How Much Confinement for an Article 93 C

**Short answer:** Navy and Marine Corps records hold 20 convictions under Article 93 (maltreatment) from 2017–2025\. Confinement was adjudged in 14\. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. Of 20 convicted enlisted members, 10 received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% across the service.

Based on 20 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Most of the Accused Were NCOs

Maltreatment under Article 93 is cruelty toward, oppression of, or maltreatment of a person subject to the accused's orders. It is an offense by people in authority. Of the 20 accused, 15 were NCOs, 5 were junior enlisted members, and 0 were officers.

The accused here were more senior than in all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in these years, where junior enlisted members were the larger group.

## Short and Long Sentences

Of the 20 convictions, 6 (30%) had no confinement, compared with 18% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. Another 8 (40%) were under 6 months. The median among the 14 sentences with confinement was 5 months, and a quarter were 1 year or longer.

3 of 20 convictions (15%) carried more than 1 year, compared with 25% across the service. 2 of them were 5 years or more, a 10% share compared with 7%. 1 was over 1 year and under 5 years. With only 20 cases, a few long sentences change these percentages noticeably.

These are adjudged sentences, imposed at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 6           | 30%        | 18%                                                         |
| Under 6 months                  | 8           | 40%        | 35%                                                         |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 3           | 15%        | 22%                                                         |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1           | 5%         | 18%                                                         |
| 5 years or more                 | 2           | 10%        | 7%                                                          |

## Other Charges Are Part of Each Sentence

In 17 of the 20 cases, at least one other article was charged. Article 92 (orders violation) was charged in 8, Article 128 (assault) in 6, Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) and Article 107 (false official statement) in 4 each, and Article 134 (general article) in 3.

The sentence covers every finding, so the terms above include punishment for those other charges. The records do not divide a sentence by charge.

## Punitive Discharges

Of 20 convicted enlisted members, 10 received a punitive discharge: 7 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, the share was 62%.

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation, which the trial records do not include.

## Court Levels

Special courts-martial tried 16 of the 20 cases and general courts-martial tried 4\. The general court-martial share was 20%, lower than the 41% across the service. A special court-martial can impose no more than 1 year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge, so the 3 dishonorable discharges here came from general courts-martial.

## Few Records List a Plea

Only 12 of the 20 records list a plea. Of those, 7 accused pleaded guilty and 5 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 42%, higher than the 24% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions, but it rests on very few cases.

## Few Cases in Any Year or Place

The cases run from October 2017 to December 2025, with no more than 5 in any year. The highest count was 5, in 2019\. 2022 had 0.

No installation had more than 3 cases. MCAS Miramar, California and Norfolk, Virginia had 3 cases each, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Parris Island, South Carolina, and Camp Pendleton, California had 2 each. Together these locations account for 60% of the 20\. Larger installations try more cases of every kind. With counts this low, the numbers say nothing about conditions at any one base.

## Law Changes

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial limited to 6 months of confinement with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. Judges sentence within new parameters for offenses after December 27, 2023\. Both later changes depend on when the offense happened. The records give only trial dates, so the few trials from 2024 on could fall under either set of rules.

## What the Records Omit

Trial records do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or who was mistreated and how. Cases handled outside a court-martial are not included. Records before December 2020 often omit the plea, which limits the plea figures above. The figures also do not show whether a sentence was later reduced by a plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: ending in a conviction under Article 93 (maltreatment) (20 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 93 (Cruelty and Maltreatment): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-93-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub)
- [How Has Article 93 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-93-trend-2017-2025/)
- [How Often Are Contested Navy-Marine Corps Article 93 Cases Acquitted?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-93-acq-2017-2025/)
- [Article 93 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-93-sent-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Article 107 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-107-sent-2017-2025/)
- [Article 108 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-108-sent-2017-2025/)
- [Article 113 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-sent-2021-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.