The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2024
The Navy and Marine Corps records show 394 courts-martial in 2024. A punitive discharge followed 58% of enlisted convictions, compared with 69% in the other services in 2024.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Navy and Marine Corps records show 394 courts-martial in 2024. A punitive discharge followed 58% of enlisted convictions, compared with 69% in the other services in 2024. Of 128 contested cases that reached a verdict, 35 ended in a full acquittal (27%), compared with 42% in the other services.
Fewer Convictions Included a Punitive Discharge
A punitive discharge, meaning a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, followed 58% of Navy and Marine Corps enlisted convictions in 2024 (117 bad-conduct, 71 dishonorable). The share was 63% in 2023 and 69% in the other services in 2024.
Officers face dismissal instead. Of the 9 convicted officers or warrant officers, 3 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation, which these records do not track.
Many Convictions Had No Confinement
Of 345 convictions, 260 included confinement and 85 (25%) did not. In the other services in 2024, 14% had no confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, close to the 6 months in the other services. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in a case.
Terms longer than 1 year were less common than in the other services: 75 of 345 convictions (22%), compared with 28%. Sentences of 5 years or more were 7%, compared with 6%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the other services in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 85 | 25% | 14% |
| Under 6 months | 132 | 38% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 53 | 15% | 14% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 51 | 15% | 22% |
| 5 years or more | 24 | 7% | 6% |
Verdicts in Contested Cases
Of 128 contested cases with a verdict, 35 ended in a full acquittal (27%) and 36 in a partial acquittal (28%). A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. The full acquittal rate was lower than the 42% in the other services in 2024. In 2023, the figure was 21 of 95.
Pleas are recorded for 373 of the 394 cases: 245 guilty pleas and 128 not-guilty or mixed pleas. The contested share was 34%, compared with 32% in the other services in 2024. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 80% of the time (65 of 81). Cases charging Article 92 ended in a guilty plea 56% of the time (33 of 59).
Charges
Charges are listed for 388 of the 394 cases, and each case is counted under every article it charges. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged in 7% of cases, compared with 15% in the other services in 2024. Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) was charged in 13%, compared with 20%.
Article 134 (general article) was the most common charge, at 22%. Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 128 (assault) were each charged in 16% of cases, and Article 112a (drug) in 14%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the other services in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 84 | 22% | 21% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 62 | 16% | 13% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 61 | 16% | 20% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 54 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 51 | 13% | 20% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 30 | 8% | 7% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 29 | 7% | 15% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 27 | 7% | 5% |
Results for the Most Common Articles
Article 134 cases most often ended in a conviction on that article (80 of 84, or 95%). Article 112a cases least often did (45 of 54, or 83%). The median confinement was 1.3 years for Article 134 convictions, 4 months for Article 128 and Article 112a convictions, and 3 months for Article 92 convictions. The rows overlap where a case charges more than one article.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 84 | 80 (95%) | 1.3 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 62 | 53 (85%) | 3 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 61 | 56 (92%) | 4 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 54 | 45 (83%) | 4 months |
Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial can impose no more than 1 year of confinement and no dishonorable discharge. Only 151 of the 394 cases were general courts-martial (38%), compared with 69% in the other services in 2024.
At general courts-martial, 87% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1.7 years. At the 243 special courts-martial, 68% did, and the median was 2 months.
Rank and Location
Among the accused with rank recorded, 214 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 147 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 10 were officers or warrant officers. The accused were more junior than in the other services in 2024, where 53% were junior enlisted members.
San Diego, California (58), Camp Pendleton, California (50), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (44), Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay (25), and Norfolk, Virginia (24) tried the most cases. Together they account for 51% of the 394. Large installations try more cases of all kinds.
Old and New Rules in the Same Year
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. A military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023.
Both rules depend on offense dates, which these records do not include. The 2024 trials therefore include cases under each set of rules. The records cannot show whether either change affected the numbers above.
Change From 2023, and What Is Not Here
There were 394 cases in 2024, compared with 325 in 2023. The contested share was 34%, compared with 32%. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months. The general court-martial share was 38%, compared with 46%. In groups of this size, a few cases can change these figures.
The records omit offense dates, the evidence, the plea terms, and anything resolved through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
| 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 325 | 394 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 32% | 34% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 21 of 95 | 35 of 128 |
| Convictions with confinement | 79% | 75% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 63% | 58% |
| General courts-martial | 46% | 38% |
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every Navy and Marine Corps court-martial in the data with a trial date in 2024 (394 cases), compared with the other services in 2024 and with 2023.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2023: Year in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2025: Year in Review (previous / next)
- How 2021 Went at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2019: Year in Review
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2022: Year in Review
- Search every case in 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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.