What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in June 2025
The records show 32 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in June 2025. Punitive discharges were less common than across the year: 10 of 29 convicted enlisted members received one (34%), compared with 46% for all of 2025.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The records show 32 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in June 2025. Punitive discharges were less common than across the year: 10 of 29 convicted enlisted members received one (34%), compared with 46% for all of 2025. Only 7 of the 32 cases were general courts-martial (22%, compared with 36% for the year), and only 2 of 29 convictions included more than one year of confinement.
Fewer Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or dishonorable discharge imposed as part of the court-martial sentence for an enlisted member. In June 2025, 10 of 29 convicted enlisted members received one: 9 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. The share for the Navy and Marine Corps across 2025 was 46%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later. Administrative separations are not in these records.
Mostly Special Courts-Martial
A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose a sentence beyond those limits. Only 7 of the 32 cases were general courts-martial (22%), compared with 36% for the year. The other cases were special courts-martial.
Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone. In that form, confinement is capped at six months and no punitive discharge is possible. The records do not show what led to the mix of court levels this month.
Most Sentences Were Short
Of the 32 cases, 29 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Of those 29 sentences, 19 included confinement (66%). The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the median of 4 months for the year. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 8 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
10 convictions (34%) had no confinement, compared with 31% for 2025. Sentences under 6 months made up 12 convictions (41%), compared with 37%. Sentences longer than one year came in only 2 of 29 convictions (7%), compared with 16%. No sentence was 5 years or more.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 10 | 34% | 31% |
| Under 6 months | 12 | 41% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 17% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 7% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 5% |
Larceny, Conspiracy, and Attempts
Charges are listed for 31 of the 32 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) was the most common charge, in 8 cases (26%), about the same as its 24% for the year.
Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 5 cases (16%), compared with 8% for the year. Article 81 (conspiracy) and Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 4 cases each (13%), compared with 6% and 8%. Article 90 (willfully disobeying superior officer) appeared in 3 cases (10%), compared with 5%.
Article 134, the general article, was less common, in 16% of cases compared with 21%. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 10%, compared with 16%. Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 10%, compared with 11%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 26% | 24% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 5 | 16% | 8% |
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 16% | 21% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 4 | 13% | 6% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 4 | 13% | 8% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 3 | 10% | 11% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 3 | 10% | 16% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 10% | 5% |
Pleas and Acquittals
The plea appears in 31 of the 32 records. Of those, 22 accused pleaded guilty and 9 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 29%, lower than the 37% for the year.
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, through a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. In a contested case, the court decides guilt on the evidence. Of the 9 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal.
Compared With June 2024
June 2024 had 27 cases, and June 2025 had 32. The contested share went from 32% to 29%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 4 of 8 to 2 of 9.
Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 65% to 34%. Convictions with confinement went from 71% to 66%. The median confinement went from 5 months to 4 months, and general courts-martial went from 33% of cases to 22%. A few cases can change percentages in groups this small, so these comparisons show direction, not precise change.
| June 2024 | June 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 27 | 32 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 32% | 29% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 4 of 8 | 2 of 9 |
| Convictions with confinement | 71% | 66% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 65% | 34% |
| General courts-martial | 33% | 22% |
An Even Split by Rank
Among the accused with rank recorded, 15 were junior enlisted, 15 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. The group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2025.
Installations
Camp Pendleton, California, tried 8 cases, and Norfolk, Virginia, tried 5. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and San Diego, California, tried 4 each, and Okinawa, Japan, tried 2. These five locations account for 72% of the month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone says nothing about a particular base.
Rule Changes and Record Limits
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, a military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. These records do not give offense dates, so June 2025 includes cases under both the old and new rules. The records cannot show whether either change affected the results.
Only cases that reached a court-martial are counted. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases with no action are not included, and the records do not describe the evidence or plea terms.
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 June 2025 (32 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, May 2025: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- July 2025 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 35 Cases (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.