What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in August 2023
Navy and Marine Corps records show 40 courts-martial in August 2023. Article 92 orders violations were charged in 29% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 18% for both services across 2023. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › August 2023
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records show 40 courts-martial in August 2023. Article 92 orders violations were charged in 29% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 18% for both services across 2023. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the year.
Orders Violations and Assault Were More Common Than the Year
Charges are listed for 38 of the 40 cases, and one case can count under several articles. Article 128 assault appeared most often, in 13 cases (34%, compared with 26% for the year). Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 11 cases (29%, compared with 18% for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2023).
Article 120 rape and sexual assault appeared in 16% of cases, compared with 11%. Article 131b obstructing justice appeared in 4 cases (11%, compared with 5%). Article 128b domestic violence appeared in 5 (13%, compared with 10%). The general article, Article 134, was less common than usual at 16%, compared with 22%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 13 | 34% | 26% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 11 | 29% | 18% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 16% | 22% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 6 | 16% | 11% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 5 | 13% | 10% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 11% | 13% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 4 | 11% | 5% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 11% | 10% |
Conviction Rates for Orders and Assault
All 11 cases charging Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article. In 10 of 13 assault cases (77%), the accused was convicted of assault. Both groups had a median confinement of 4 months.
Guilty pleas were common in both groups. Of cases charging Article 128, 9 of 13 (69%) ended in a guilty plea. Of cases charging Article 92, 7 of 11 (64%) did. The records do not say why an accused chose to plead or contest.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 13 | 10 (77%) | 4 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 11 | 11 (100%) | 4 months |
Most Sentences Were Short
Of 35 convictions, 80% included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the year. A quarter of the terms were 11 months or more.
Terms under 6 months made up 46% of convictions, compared with 33% for 2023. Only 5 of 35 convictions (14%) included more than one year of confinement, compared with 23% for the year. Of those, 4 were between 1 and 5 years, and 1 was 5 years or more. Another 7 convictions (20%) included no confinement. 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 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 20% | 21% |
| Under 6 months | 16 | 46% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 7 | 20% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 11% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 4% |
General Versus Special Courts-Martial
Of the 40 cases, 15 were general courts-martial and 25 were special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 38%, compared with 46% for the year. A general court-martial can adjudge any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge; a special court-martial cannot exceed one year of confinement or impose a dishonorable discharge.
The general courts-martial had a median confinement of 2.1 years and a 23% contested share. The special courts-martial had a median of 3 months and a 32% contested share.
Pleas and Acquittals
The plea is listed in 38 of the 40 records: 27 guilty pleas and 11 not-guilty or mixed pleas. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 29%, lower than the 32% for the year.
Of 11 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal (27%), higher than the 22% for both services across 2023. Another 1 (9%) ended in a partial acquittal, where the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
Discharges for the Convicted
Of 30 convicted enlisted members, 18 received a punitive discharge: 14 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. For the year, the share was 63%. The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed.
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member, with dismissal as the officer counterpart. A sentence without one does not rule out an administrative separation.
Compared With August 2022
August 2022 had 24 cases, and August 2023 had 40. The contested share rose from 22% to 29%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 0 of 5 to 3 of 11. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members fell from 71% to 60%. Convictions with confinement fell from 91% to 80%. The median confinement went from 6 months to 5 months.
In small groups, a few cases can change a percentage, so these figures show direction, not precise size.
| August 2022 | August 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 24 | 40 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 22% | 29% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 0 of 5 | 3 of 11 |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 80% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 71% | 60% |
| General courts-martial | 42% | 38% |
Rank, Places, and Gaps in the Record
Among the accused with rank recorded, 24 were junior enlisted, 9 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. That group was more junior than the year overall. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 7 cases. Bremerton, Washington, and Norfolk, Virginia, had 5 each, and Okinawa, Japan, and Camp Pendleton, California, had 3 each. Those five places account for 58% of the 40 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
The records give trial dates, not offense dates, and they do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Conduct handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation does not appear.
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 2023 (40 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)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, July 2023: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, September 2023: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2023: Year in Review (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.