What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in August 2021
The Navy and Marine Corps tried 31 courts-martial in August 2021. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 38% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 25% for both services across 2021.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › August 2021
Short answer: The Navy and Marine Corps tried 31 courts-martial in August 2021. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 38% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 25% for both services across 2021. Of convicted enlisted members, 79% received a punitive discharge, compared with 64% for the year.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
This month, 79% of convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge: 16 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. For the Navy and Marine Corps across 2021, the share was 64%. The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed, which is the officer form of a punitive discharge.
The rate was 65% in August 2020. A sentence without a punitive discharge can still lead to an administrative separation later.
Drug Charges and the General Article Were Most Common
Charges are listed for 29 of the 31 records, and each article counts once per case. Article 112a appeared in 11 cases (38%, compared with 25% for the year), and Article 134, the general article, in 10 (34%, compared with 26%). Article 92 orders violations appeared in 8 (28%, compared with 21%).
Other charges were more common than usual: Article 80 attempts (21%, compared with 13%) and Article 121 larceny (17%, compared with 9%). Assault was less common, in 6 cases (21%), compared with 32% for the year. Article 120b, rape and sexual assault of a child, appeared in 3 cases (10%, compared with 8%), and Article 107 false official statements matched the year at 10%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 11 | 38% | 25% |
| Art. 134 General article | 10 | 34% | 26% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 28% | 21% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 6 | 21% | 13% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 6 | 21% | 32% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 5 | 17% | 9% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 10% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 10% | 10% |
Convictions on the Leading Charges
All 10 cases charging Article 134 ended with a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 8 months. In 10 of 11 drug cases (91%), the accused was convicted of the drug charge, and the median was 9 months. Article 92 had the lowest conviction rate of the group, 6 of 8, and its median was also 9 months.
These rows overlap, since a single case can bring a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 11 | 10 (91%) | 9 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 10 | 10 (100%) | 8 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 6 (6 of 8) | 9 months |
Most Terms Were Under One Year
Of 25 convictions, 24 included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, compared with 7 months for the year. A quarter of the terms were 11 months or more.
Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 11 convictions (44%, compared with 26% for 2021). Terms over one year were adjudged in 5 of 25 convictions (20%), compared with 26%. None was 5 years or more. Only 1 conviction (4%) included no confinement, compared with 15% for the year. All of these are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 1 | 4% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 32% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 11 | 44% | 26% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 5 | 20% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 5% |
Guilty Pleas and Contested Cases
The plea is listed in 29 of the 31 records: 21 guilty pleas and 8 contested cases. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 28%, compared with 32% for the year.
Guilty pleas were common in the most frequent charges. Of cases charging Article 134, 8 of 10 (80%) ended in a guilty plea. Of drug cases, 8 of 11 (73%) did. The records do not say why any accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges. Of the contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 of 8 ended in a full acquittal.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial made up 14 of the 31 cases (45%), and special courts-martial the remaining 17. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge.
At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 10 months, and 31% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 5 months, and 25% were contested.
Changes From August 2020
The number of cases rose from 25 to 31. The median confinement went from 5 months to 8 months. The contested share fell from 33% to 28%. Convictions with confinement went from 95% to 96%, and the general court-martial share went from 44% to 45%.
In small groups, a few cases can change a percentage, so these figures show direction, not precise size.
| August 2020 | August 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 25 | 31 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 33% | 28% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 2 of 4 | 4 of 8 |
| Convictions with confinement | 95% | 96% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 8 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 65% | 79% |
| General courts-martial | 44% | 45% |
Who Was Tried, Where, and What Is Missing
Among the accused with rank recorded, 23 were junior enlisted, 5 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. That group was more junior than the year as a whole. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 11 cases. Norfolk, Virginia, had 4, and Camp Pendleton, California, San Diego, California, and Bremerton, Washington (3 each). Those five places account for 77% of the cases.
The records include only cases that reached a courtroom. They omit nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, the evidence, and plea terms, and they give the date of trial rather than the date of the alleged offense.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in August 2021 (31 cases), compared with the whole year.
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)
- July 2021 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 30 Cases (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, September 2021: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- How 2021 Went at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial (the whole year)
- April 2018 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 43 Cases
- April 2020 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 18 Cases
- August 2017 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 37 Cases
- August 2019 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 34 Cases
- 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.