Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California, 2013–2018: How Their Courts-Martial Compare

Trends › By Installation › Norfolk, Virginia › vs. San Diego, California

Based on 308 cases · 2013–2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Assault and Sexual Assault Charges at Norfolk

290 of the 308 Norfolk records list the charges. A case can count under several articles. Article 128, assault, was the most common charge, in 122 cases (42%). In San Diego, it appeared in 28% of cases. Article 120, rape and sexual assault, appeared in 86 Norfolk cases (30%), compared with 17% in San Diego.

Two charges were less common at Norfolk. Article 112a, the drug article, appeared in 18% of cases, compared with 31% in San Diego. Article 86, absence without leave, appeared in 4%, compared with 11%. Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 13% of cases at both locations.

More Cases Were Contested at Norfolk

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, as a not-guilty or mixed plea. 304 of the 308 Norfolk records list the plea. Of those, 104 were contested and 200 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 34%, higher than the 23% in San Diego.

Contested shares were 42% in Norfolk general courts-martial and 26% in special courts-martial. The guilty-plea rate also varied by charge. Cases charging Article 121, larceny, ended in a guilty plea 92% of the time (35 of 38), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 120 ended in a guilty plea 34% of the time (29 of 86). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the case.

Full and Partial Acquittals

Of the 104 contested Norfolk cases that reached a verdict, 45 ended in a full acquittal (43%). In San Diego, 34 of 64 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (53%).

Another 11 Norfolk cases (11%) ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.

Conviction Rates by Charge

Article 121 ended in a conviction on that article in 39 of 39 cases (100%). Article 112a did so in 44 of 52 cases (85%), and Article 128 in 100 of 122 (82%). Article 120 had the lowest share among the top charges: 58 of 86 cases (67%).

When the conviction included Article 120, the median confinement was 2.5 years. For Article 128, Article 112a, and Article 121, the median was 6 months each. A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case, so these rows overlap.

Confinement After a Conviction

262 Norfolk cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 227 of those sentences included confinement (87%). The median confinement was 6 months, close to the 5 months in San Diego. A quarter of the sentences were 1.6 years or longer.

Sentences of more than one year were more common at Norfolk: 68 of 262 convictions (26%), compared with 19% in San Diego. Sentences of 5 years or more were 9% of Norfolk convictions and 5% of San Diego convictions. Sentences under 6 months were 39% at Norfolk and 46% in San Diego.

These are adjudged sentences. They are what the court announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

General and Special Courts-Martial

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.

Norfolk had 154 general courts-martial and 154 special courts-martial, so each level was 50% of cases. The median confinement was 1.5 years in general courts-martial and 4 months in special courts-martial.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member, or a dismissal for an officer. 57% of enlisted convictions at Norfolk ended with one: 96 bad-conduct discharges and 43 dishonorable discharges. The San Diego share was 55%.

15 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Norfolk records, and 4 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Case Counts

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 51% of the Norfolk accused, NCOs were 43%, and officers were 6%. In San Diego, junior enlisted members were 54% of the accused.

The records run from January 2013 to December 2018. Norfolk had 52 cases in 2013, 50 in 2014, 57 in 2015, 55 in 2016, 39 in 2017, and 55 in 2018. These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. None of those changes applied here.

What the Records Leave Out

The trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so plea counts use only the records that list one.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.