What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in August 2025
Navy and Marine Corps records list 33 courts-martial in August 2025. Assault under Article 128 appeared in 30% of the cases, compared with 16% for both services across 2025. Of 15 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (40%), compared with 27% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › August 2025
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records list 33 courts-martial in August 2025. Assault under Article 128 appeared in 30% of the cases, compared with 16% for both services across 2025. Of 15 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (40%), compared with 27% for the year.
More Contested Cases and More Full Acquittals
All 33 records list the plea: 15 not-guilty or mixed pleas and 18 guilty pleas. The contested share was 45%, higher than the 37% for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2025. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.
Of the 15 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (40%), compared with 27% for the year. Another 4 (27%) ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
Most Convictions Included No Confinement
There were 27 convictions, and only 44% of them included confinement. Convictions with no confinement made up 56%, compared with 31% for the year. In August 2024, 76% of convictions included confinement.
Where confinement was adjudged, the median was 5 months, compared with 4 months for 2025. A quarter of the terms were 3.3 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.
The Length of the Terms
Terms over one year were adjudged in 4 of 27 convictions (15%), about the same as the 16% for the year. Of those, 3 were between 1 and 5 years, and 1 was 5 years or more. Shorter terms were less common than usual. Terms under 6 months made up 22% of convictions (37% for the year), and terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 7% (16% for the year).
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. At the 14 general courts-martial, 67% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 11 months. At the 19 special courts-martial, 27% did, and the median was 2 months.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 15 | 56% | 31% |
| Under 6 months | 6 | 22% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 2 | 7% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 11% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 4% | 5% |
Assault and Child Endangerment Charges
All 33 cases have a charge list, and a case can count under several articles. Assault appeared in 10 cases (30%, compared with 16% for 2025). Article 92 orders violations were second, in 7 cases (21%, compared with 24% for the year).
Several less common charges were also charged more often than usual. Article 120 rape and sexual assault appeared in 4 cases (12%, compared with 5%), Article 119b child endangerment in 3 (9%, compared with 3%), and Article 86 AWOL in 3 (9%, compared with 4%). Article 128b domestic violence appeared in 15% of cases, compared with 11%. Article 134, the general article, was less common than usual, at 12%, compared with 21%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 10 | 30% | 16% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 7 | 21% | 24% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 5 | 15% | 11% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 12% | 5% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 12% | 21% |
| Art. 119b Child endangerment | 3 | 9% | 3% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 3 | 9% | 4% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 6% | 8% |
Fewer Punitive Discharges
Of convicted enlisted members, 42% received a punitive discharge (7 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable), compared with 46% for the year. The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed.
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members; dismissal is the officer equivalent. A sentence without one does not rule out an administrative separation later.
What Shifted Since August 2024
August 2024 had 49 cases, and August 2025 had 33. The contested share rose from 37% to 45%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 5 of 17 to 6 of 15. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members fell from 60% to 42%. Convictions with confinement fell from 76% to 44%. The median confinement went from 6 months to 5 months, and the general court-martial share went from 45% to 42%.
With groups this small, a few cases can change a percentage, so these figures show direction, not precise size.
| August 2024 | August 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 49 | 33 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 37% | 45% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 5 of 17 | 6 of 15 |
| Convictions with confinement | 76% | 44% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 60% | 42% |
| General courts-martial | 45% | 42% |
Who Was Tried and Where
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 58% of the accused, NCOs made up 36%, and officers made up 6%. Across both services in 2025, junior enlisted members were 62%. General courts-martial made up 42% of the cases (14 of 33), higher than the yearly 36%.
Norfolk, Virginia, had the most trials (5). Camp Pendleton, California, Bremerton, Washington, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Great Lakes, Illinois, had 3 each. Those five places account for 52% of the cases, and larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Rule Changes and Missing Details
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Judges now sentence within new parameters when every guilty finding involves an offense after December 27, 2023. Without offense dates, these records cannot sort old-rule cases from new-rule ones or show whether the changes affected any figure here.
The records also leave out the evidence, the plea terms, and any conduct handled outside a court-martial.
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 2025 (33 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 2025 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 35 Cases (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, September 2025: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial in 2025: 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.