Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
From 2019–2023, Norfolk, Virginia had 205 courts-martial and San Diego, California had 173. At Norfolk, 29 of 70 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (41%), higher than the 35% in San Diego. The median confinement was 6 months at both locations.
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Trends › By Installation › Norfolk, Virginia › vs. San Diego, California
Short answer: From 2019–2023, Norfolk, Virginia had 205 courts-martial and San Diego, California had 173. At Norfolk, 29 of 70 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (41%), higher than the 35% in San Diego. The median confinement was 6 months at both locations.
Full Acquittals at Norfolk and San Diego
70 contested Norfolk cases reached a verdict, and 29 of them ended in a full acquittal (41%). In San Diego, 18 of 52 did (35%). A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, as a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea.
14 more Norfolk cases ended in a partial acquittal. In those cases the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk, Virginia | 205 | 35% | 29 of 70 | 6 months | 62% |
| San Diego, California | 173 | 30% | 18 of 52 | 6 months | 55% |
Guilty Pleas by Court Level and Charge
202 of the 205 Norfolk records list the plea. 132 were guilty pleas and 70 were contested. The contested share was 35%, compared with 30% in San Diego.
General courts-martial were contested more often than special courts-martial: 49% compared with 23%. Cases charging Article 112a, the drug article, ended in a guilty plea 78% of the time (39 of 50), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 120, rape and sexual assault, ended in a guilty plea 27% of the time (10 of 37). The records give no reason for any plea.
Desertion and Assault Charges
201 of the 205 records list the charges. Each article counts once per case. Article 128, assault, was charged in 76 Norfolk cases (38%), compared with 28% in San Diego. Article 85, desertion, was charged in 18 cases (9%), compared with 2%.
Article 112a appeared in 25% of Norfolk cases and 23% of San Diego cases. Article 120 appeared in 19% and 17%. Larceny under Article 121 was less common at Norfolk, at 5% of cases compared with 14% in San Diego. Article 80, attempts, was also less common: 8% compared with 13%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, San Diego, California |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 76 | 38% | 28% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 51 | 25% | 23% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 38 | 19% | 17% |
| Art. 134 General article | 26 | 13% | 15% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 23 | 11% | 15% |
| Art. 85 Desertion | 18 | 9% | 2% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 18 | 9% | 5% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 17 | 8% | 13% |
Which Charges Most Often Ended in a Conviction?
Article 134, the general article, ended in a conviction on that article in 25 of 26 cases (96%). Article 112a did so in 46 of 51 (90%). Article 128 did so in 60 of 76 (79%). Article 120 was lowest: 20 of 38 cases (53%).
The median confinement when the conviction included Article 120 was 1.3 years. It was 1.2 years for Article 134, 6 months for Article 128, and 4 months for Article 112a. Rows overlap, because a case can include several articles, and an accused can be convicted on one article and acquitted on another.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 76 | 60 (79%) | 6 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 51 | 46 (90%) | 4 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 38 | 20 (53%) | 1.3 years |
| Art. 134 General article | 26 | 25 (96%) | 1.2 years |
Sentence Lengths Were Similar
Of 175 Norfolk convictions, 137 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as in San Diego. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.
29 of 175 Norfolk convictions (17%) carried more than one year of confinement, about the same as the 19% in San Diego. Sentences of 5 years or more were 5% at both locations. No confinement was 22% at Norfolk and 21% in San Diego.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, San Diego, California |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 38 | 22% | 21% |
| Under 6 months | 68 | 39% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 40 | 23% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 20 | 11% | 14% |
| 5 years or more | 9 | 5% | 5% |
Punitive Discharges for Enlisted Members
99 of 160 convicted enlisted members at Norfolk received a punitive discharge (62%), compared with 55% in San Diego. 78 of the 99 were bad-conduct discharges and 21 were dishonorable discharges.
12 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Norfolk records, and 2 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Court Level and Rank
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. Norfolk had 91 general courts-martial (44%), compared with 43% in San Diego. Their median confinement was 1 year. The 114 special courts-martial had a median of 3 months.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 102 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 86 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 14 were officers or warrant officers. In San Diego, 58% of the accused were junior enlisted, so the Norfolk group was more senior.
Cases per Year
Norfolk had 51 cases in 2019, 29 in 2020, 46 in 2021, 50 in 2022, and 29 in 2023. The two locations tried a similar number of Navy and Marine Corps cases in these years, so the comparison uses shares, not counts.
Limits of the Data
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so plea counts use only the records that list one. The trial records also leave out the evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, and any conduct handled outside a court-martial.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Norfolk, Virginia (205) and San Diego, California (173) with trial dates in 2019–2023. Each figure for Norfolk, Virginia is set beside the same figure for San Diego, California.
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
- Norfolk, Virginia: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- San Diego, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Camp Pendleton, California: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2013–2018
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Camp Pendleton, California and San Diego, California, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
- Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Parris Island, South Carolina and Pensacola, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Norfolk, Virginia, 2019–2023
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.