Okinawa, Japan, 2019–2023 vs. 2024–2026: A Side-by-Side Look
Okinawa, Japan held 50 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2024–2026, compared with 100 in 2019–2023, and the number of cases each year stayed close to 20. Most cases were guilty pleas: 22% were contested, compared with 36% service-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 7 min read
Trends › By Installation › Okinawa, Japan › Before and after 2024
Short answer: Okinawa, Japan held 50 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2024–2026, compared with 100 in 2019–2023, and the number of cases each year stayed close to 20. Most cases were guilty pleas: 22% were contested, compared with 36% service-wide. The median confinement was 1 year, compared with 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Comparing 2 Periods at One Installation
This post compares courts-martial at Okinawa, Japan in 2 periods: 2019–2023 and 2024–2026. The detailed figures describe the 50 recent cases, tried from March 2024 through October 2026. The comparison table shows them next to the earlier period.
The number of cases each year was about the same. The earlier period had 100 cases over the 5 years with cases on record, about 20 a year. Since then there have been about 19 a year, counting full years only. The recent cases were 18 in 2024, 20 in 2025, and 12 in 2026, a partial year.
What Changed Between the Periods
The contested share went from 27% to 22%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 1 of 13 to 4 of 11. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 69% to 56%. General courts-martial went from 55% to 42% of cases. Convictions with confinement went from 88% to 78%. The median confinement was 1 year in both periods.
Groups this size change with a few cases, so these figures show direction, not precise size. The records also cannot show the cause of any change.
| 2019–2023 | 2024–2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 100 | 50 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 27% | 22% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 1 of 13 | 4 of 11 |
| Convictions with confinement | 88% | 78% |
| Median confinement | 1 year | 1 year |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 69% | 56% |
| General courts-martial | 55% | 42% |
Few Contested Cases, but More Full Acquittals
Of the 50 recent cases, 39 were guilty pleas and 11 were contested. A contested case is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The 22% contested share is lower than the 36% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in the same years.
4 of the 11 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (36%). That is higher than the 26% for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole. Another 3 were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another.
Longer Confinement Than the Service Overall
Of 46 convictions, 36 included confinement (78%). The median confinement was 1 year, higher than the 6-month median across all Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of the sentences were 2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
15 of 46 convictions (33%) carried more than one year of confinement, compared with 20% service-wide. Sentences of more than 1 year and under 5 years were 30% of convictions here, compared with 13% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 10 | 22% | 30% |
| Under 6 months | 14 | 30% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 7 | 15% | 14% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 14 | 30% | 13% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 2% | 7% |
Results by Court Level
The 21 general courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.6 years, and 19% were contested. The 29 special courts-martial had a median confinement of 3 months, and 24% were contested. 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.
Of 43 convicted enlisted members, 24 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (56%), compared with 52% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases. 14 of the 24 were dishonorable discharges. Of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed.
Conspiracy and the General Article
Some charges appeared more often here than across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 12% of cases, compared with 5%. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 28%, compared with 21%. Drug charges under Article 112a and domestic violence charges under Article 128b each appeared in 8% of cases here, compared with 12% service-wide.
All 14 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article, and 13 of the 14 were guilty pleas (93%). In Article 92 cases, 10 of 12 ended in a conviction on that charge. The median confinement for those convicted of Article 92 was 45 days.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 14 | 28% | 21% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 24% | 19% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 6 | 12% | 5% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 6 | 12% | 7% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 8% | 6% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 8% | 12% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 4 | 8% | 12% |
| Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct | 3 | 6% | 3% |
Results by Charge
Guilty pleas varied by charge. Cases charging Article 92 ended in a guilty plea 75% of the time (9 of 12). A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows below overlap. The records do not show why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 14 | 14 (100%) | 1.3 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 10 (83%) | 45 days |
Compared With Similar Installations
Quantico, Virginia and Bremerton, Washington tried a similar number of cases in the same years. Okinawa had the lowest contested share of the 3: 22%, compared with 51% at Quantico and 33% at Bremerton. Okinawa's median confinement of 1 year was the same as Quantico's. Bremerton's was 3 months.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okinawa, Japan | 50 | 22% | 4 of 11 | 1 year | 56% |
| Quantico, Virginia | 49 | 51% | 3 of 24 | 1 year | 58% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 52 | 33% | 6 of 17 | 3 months | 33% |
Who Was Accused
The accused were 33 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 13 NCOs, and 2 officers. That mix is more junior than in the Navy and Marine Corps overall. Officers receive a dismissal, not a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, so the 2 officers are counted separately in the discharge figures above.
Rule Changes and What the Records Cannot Show
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give. For that reason, the recent cases include trials under both the old and the new rules. The records also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or 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 Okinawa, Japan in 2019–2023 (100) and 2024–2026 (50).
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
- Okinawa, Japan: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Okinawa, Japan, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 100 Cases
- Inside 70 Courts-Martial at Okinawa, Japan, 2017–2018
- Inside 50 Courts-Martial at Okinawa, Japan, 2024–2026
- Okinawa, Japan, 2017–2018 vs. 2019–2023: A Side-by-Side Look
- Bremerton, Washington Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Bremerton, Washington Before and After 2024: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Great Lakes, Illinois Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Okinawa, Japan, 2024–2026
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.