What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in December 2021
Navy and Marine Corps records show 28 courts-martial in December 2021. Of convicted enlisted members, 77% received a punitive discharge, compared with 64% for both services across 2021. Only 24% of the cases with a recorded plea were contested, compared with 32% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › December 2021
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records show 28 courts-martial in December 2021. Of convicted enlisted members, 77% received a punitive discharge, compared with 64% for both services across 2021. Only 24% of the cases with a recorded plea were contested, compared with 32% for the year.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
This month, 77% of convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge: 13 bad-conduct and 7 dishonorable. For the Navy and Marine Corps across 2021, the share was 64%. No convicted officers appear in the month's records.
A punitive discharge is adjudged at trial, and only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out an administrative separation later. The rate was also higher than the 71% in December 2020.
Few Contested Cases, No Full Acquittals
The plea is listed in 25 of the 28 records: 19 guilty pleas and 6 not-guilty or mixed pleas. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 24%, lower than the 32% for the year.
None of the 6 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0 of 6). The contested share was about the same at both court levels: 25% at general courts-martial and 23% at special courts-martial.
More General Courts-Martial, Longer Sentences
General courts-martial made up 15 of the 28 cases (54%). Special courts-martial made up the other 13. 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.
At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 2 years. At special courts-martial, the median was 4 months. Every term above one year this month came from a general court-martial. The general court-martial share of 54% was higher than the 45% in December 2020.
Sentence Lengths
Of 26 convictions, 24 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with 7 months for the year. A quarter of the terms were 2 years or longer.
Terms over one year were adjudged in 9 of 26 convictions (35%), compared with 26% for 2021. Of those, 7 were between 1 and 5 years (27%, compared with 21%), and 2 were 5 years or more (8%, compared with 5%). Only 2 convictions (8%) included no confinement, compared with 15% for the year. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 2 | 8% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 38% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 19% | 26% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 27% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 8% | 5% |
Fewer Assault Charges Than the Year
Charges are listed for 26 of the 28 records, and each article counts once per case. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 7 cases (27%, about the same as 26% for the year), and Article 112a drug offenses in 6 (23%, compared with 25%).
Assault under Article 128 appeared in 5 cases (19%), lower than the yearly 32%. Article 120 rape and sexual assault and Article 92 orders violations also appeared in 5 cases each, about the same as the year. Article 107 false official statements appeared in 3 cases (12%, compared with 10%). Article 120b, rape and sexual assault of a child, appeared in 3 (12%, compared with 8%), and Article 80 attempts in 4 (15%, compared with 13%).
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 27% | 26% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 23% | 25% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 19% | 32% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 19% | 19% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 5 | 19% | 21% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 4 | 15% | 13% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 12% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 12% | 10% |
December 2020 to December 2021
December 2020 had 29 cases, and December 2021 had 28. The median confinement fell from 9 months to 6 months. Convictions with confinement rose from 81% to 92%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 71% to 77%. The general court-martial share went from 45% to 54%.
The contested share went from 25% to 24%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 1 of 3 to 0 of 6. In groups this small, a few cases can change a percentage, so these comparisons show direction, not precise size.
| December 2020 | December 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 29 | 28 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 25% | 24% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 1 of 3 | 0 of 6 |
| Convictions with confinement | 81% | 92% |
| Median confinement | 9 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 71% | 77% |
| General courts-martial | 45% | 54% |
A Junior Group of Accused
The accused included 19 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 7 NCOs (E-5 to E-9). That mix was more junior than the year, when 69% were junior enlisted.
Camp Pendleton, California, had the most trials (7). Next were Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (4), Mayport, Florida, and San Diego, California (3 each), and Great Lakes, Illinois (2). Together these account for 68% of the 28 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
What the Records Leave Out
These figures describe only cases that reached a courtroom. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases closed without action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or any plea terms. They also give trial dates, not offense dates.
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 December 2021 (28 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)
- What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in November 2021 (previous / next)
- What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in January 2022 (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.