Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, December 2023: The Month in Review
Navy and Marine Corps records list 25 courts-martial tried in December 2023. Of convicted enlisted members, 70% received a punitive discharge, higher than the 63% for the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › December 2023
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records list 25 courts-martial tried in December 2023. Of convicted enlisted members, 70% received a punitive discharge, higher than the 63% for the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023. Only 26% of cases with a recorded plea were contested, compared with 32% for the year.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
The largest difference in December 2023 is in punitive discharges. A punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. This month, 70% of convicted enlisted members received one. Across the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023 the share was 63%.
There were 13 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later, and these trial records do not track separations.
Mostly Guilty Pleas
Of the 25 records, 23 list a plea. Among those, 17 were guilty pleas and 6 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 26%, lower than the 32% for the year.
Of the contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 of 6 ended in a full acquittal, compared with 1 of 7 in December 2022. A single case can change counts this small, so they describe this month, not a pattern.
Theft, Drugs, Conspiracy, and Assault Charges
Charges are listed for 24 of the 25 cases, and a case with several articles counts once under each. Article 134, the general article, was the most common at 21%, about the same as its 22% share for 2023.
These articles each appeared in 17% of cases: Article 121 (larceny), Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances), Article 81 (conspiracy), and Article 128 (assault). Conspiracy had the largest difference from the year, when it appeared in only 4% of cases. Larceny was also more common than its 10% yearly share. Assault was less common than its 26% yearly share.
Less often, Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) and Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) each appeared in 12%, and Article 85 (desertion) in 8%, compared with 4% for the year.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 21% | 22% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 17% | 10% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 17% | 13% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 4 | 17% | 4% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 4 | 17% | 26% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 12% | 18% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 12% | 11% |
| Art. 85 Desertion | 2 | 8% | 4% |
Confinement and Its Length
There were 21 convictions on at least one charge, and 16 of those sentences included confinement (76%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the median for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2023.
Long terms were less common than usual. Only 3 of 21 convictions (14%) included more than one year of confinement, compared with 23% for the year. No sentence was 5 years or more. Another 5 convictions (24%) included no confinement.
These figures are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge of conviction in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 24% | 21% |
| Under 6 months | 7 | 33% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 29% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 14% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 4% |
Sentences at Each Court Level
General courts-martial made up 13 of the 25 cases (52%), higher than the 46% share for 2023. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
At those general courts-martial, 80% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1 year. At a special court-martial, confinement is capped at one year, and a dishonorable discharge is not available. At the 12 special courts-martial, 73% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 3 months.
December 2022 Compared With December 2023
Both Decembers had 25 cases. The contested share fell from 30% to 26%. The median confinement rose from 5 months to 6 months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members rose from 57% to 70%.
The share of convictions that included confinement fell from 82% to 76%. The general court-martial share rose from 48% to 52%. With groups this small, these changes show direction only.
| December 2022 | December 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 25 | 25 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 30% | 26% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 1 of 7 | 3 of 6 |
| Convictions with confinement | 82% | 76% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 57% | 70% |
| General courts-martial | 48% | 52% |
A Junior Group of Accused
Among the accused with rank recorded, 19 were junior enlisted, 4 were NCOs, and none were officers. That mix is more junior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole in 2023.
The records do not list a rank for every accused, so these counts cover only part of the 25 cases. Most of the accused with a recorded rank were junior enlisted, and no officer or warrant officer appears among the month's trials.
Where These Trials Happened
Yokosuka, Japan, and San Diego, California, each had 4 cases. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 3. Jacksonville, Florida, and Quantico, Virginia, had 2 each. Together these five locations account for 60% of the month's 25 cases.
Large installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count does not mean a base has a problem.
Gaps in the Record
These records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They list charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, or misconduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative action. They also give trial dates rather than offense dates, so a December trial may concern conduct from months earlier.
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 2023 (25 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)
- November 2023 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 23 Cases (previous / next)
- What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in January 2024 (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.