Inside 50 Courts-Martial at Okinawa, Japan, 2024–2026
Okinawa, Japan tried 50 courts-martial from 2024 to 2026. Most 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. 33% of convictions carried more than one year of confinement.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 7 min read
Trends › By Installation › Okinawa, Japan › 2024–2026
Short answer: Okinawa, Japan tried 50 courts-martial from 2024 to 2026. Most 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. 33% of convictions carried more than one year of confinement.
Long Sentences, Mostly After Guilty Pleas
78% of the 46 convictions included confinement. Half of those sentences were 1 year or less, so the median was 1 year. Across all Navy and Marine Corps cases, the median was 6 months. A quarter of the sentences here were 2 years or longer.
Sentences of more than 1 year but under 5 years were 30% of convictions here, compared with 13% across the Navy and Marine Corps. In total, 15 of 46 convictions (33%) carried more than one year, compared with 20% service-wide. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
The General Article Was the Most Common Charge
All 50 records list the charges. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 14 cases (28%), compared with 21% service-wide. All 14 ended in a conviction on that article. The median confinement for those convictions was 1.3 years.
Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 24% of cases. It ended in a conviction on that article in 10 of 12 (83%), with a median confinement of 45 days. Conspiracy under Article 81 and attempts under Article 80 each appeared in 12% of cases, compared with 5% and 7% service-wide. Drug charges under Article 112a and domestic violence charges under Article 128b were less common: 8% each, compared with 12%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
How Many Cases Were Contested?
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Okinawa, 39 accused pleaded guilty and 11 contested. Article 134 cases ended in a guilty plea 93% of the time (13 of 14). Article 92 cases ended in a guilty plea 75% of the time (9 of 12). The records do not show why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.
Of the 11 contested cases, 36% ended in a full acquittal. That is higher than the 26% across all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Another 3 were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
| 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 |
Dishonorable Discharges Outnumbered Bad-Conduct Discharges
Of 43 convicted enlisted members, 24 received a punitive discharge: 14 dishonorable and 10 bad-conduct. That rate of 56% compares with 52% service-wide. 2 convicted officers or warrant officers appear here, and 1 was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
General and Special Courts-Martial
Okinawa had 21 general and 29 special courts-martial, so 42% were general courts-martial. The general courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.6 years, and 19% were contested. The 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 and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Before 2024 and Since
Okinawa had 100 cases in 2019–2023, about 20 a year. It has had about 19 a year since, counting full years only. The median confinement was 1 year in both periods. The contested share was 27% before and 22% since. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict were 1 of 13 before and 4 of 11 since.
The punitive discharge rate for convicted enlisted members was 69% before and 56% since. Convictions with confinement were 88% before and 78% since. The general court-martial share was 55% before and 42% since. Small groups change with a few cases, so these figures show direction, not precise size.
| 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% |
Who Was Accused?
Of the accused, 33 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 13 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 2 were officers or warrant officers. That mix is more junior than in the Navy and Marine Corps overall, where 59% were junior enlisted.
Compared With Quantico and Bremerton
Quantico, Virginia tried 49 cases and Bremerton, Washington 52 in the same years. Quantico's contested share was 51% and Bremerton's was 33%. Both are higher than Okinawa's 22%. Quantico's median confinement was 1 year, the same as Okinawa's. Bremerton's was 3 months. Punitive discharges for enlisted members were 58% at Quantico and 33% at Bremerton.
| 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% |
New Rules and What the Records Cannot Show
The cases run from March 2024 to October 2026: 18 in 2024, 20 in 2025, and 12 in 2026, a partial year. They are 5% of the 1,013 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates only, so these cases include trials under both the old and the new rules. The records do not show the evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Okinawa, Japan with a trial date in 2024–2026 (50 cases), compared with all 1,013 Navy and Marine Corps trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.
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)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Inside 70 Courts-Martial at Okinawa, Japan, 2017–2018 (another period)
- Okinawa, Japan, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 100 Cases (another period)
- Quantico, Virginia Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 49 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- Bremerton, Washington Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 52 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- Did Assault Cases at Okinawa, Japan Change After 2019?
- Sexual Assault Cases at Okinawa, Japan: 2017–2018 vs. 2019–2023
- 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.