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Military Trial Results · Analysis

Understanding Trends in Military Practice

Analysis of real court-martial records: what gets charged, how cases end, what sentences look like, how experienced the lawyers of record were, and what changed when the law did.

Every number is computed from the Military Trial Results data, built from the services' public court-martial records. Each post says how many cases it rests on, the years covered, and how we counted. Read how this data was built before citing it.

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Federal Prosecution Analysis

How do federal prosecutions compare with courts-martial? These posts use the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of everyone sentenced in federal court and the Federal Judicial Center's records of every federal defendant whose case ended, including dismissals and acquittals, for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. They cover sentences, guilty pleas, trials and acquittals, mandatory minimums, and supervised release, offense by offense. Where a federal crime has a close counterpart in the UCMJ, the post sets the two side by side. Where it doesn't, the post reports the federal numbers on their own. For how military law has moved toward the federal system, start with Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System.

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Latest Analysis

  • The 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far

    It may be too early to tell what the 2023 military sentencing reform changed. The median adjudged confinement for all court-martial convictions was 5.9 months for trials in 2022 and 2023 and 5.9 months for trials in 2024 and 2025. Some offenses show longer or shorter medians in the later period, and

  • Federal Criminal Cases Dismissed, Year by Year, 2016–2025

    In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 58,307 of 753,808 federal defendants (8%) had their cases dismissed. The yearly rate was between 7% and 9%. Court-martial records do not show dismissed charges or cases withdrawn before trial, so there is no military dismissal rate to compare.

  • Supervised Release: The Federal Sentence That Courts-Martial Cannot Impose

    Of 659,036 people sentenced in federal court from fiscal year 2016 to 2025, 509,066 (77%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median term was 36 months, and 6,332 people received supervised release for life. A court-martial cannot impose any form of supervision after release.

  • Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress

    A mandatory minimum applied to 158,762 of 641,782 people sentenced in federal court from fiscal year 2016 to 2025 (25%). The rate depends on the offense: 61% for drug trafficking, 73% for sexual abuse, 10% for firearms, and less than 1% for immigration. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums for only a few

  • How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range

    Of 654,512 people sentenced in federal court from fiscal year 2016 to 2025 with the range recorded, 311,957 (48%) were sentenced within the guideline range. Another 186,464 (28%) were sentenced below it at the government's request, 136,366 (21%) below it without a government request, and 19,725 (3%)

  • Jury or Judge: Federal Bench and Jury Trials vs. Military Judge Alone and Members

    In federal court from fiscal year 2016 to 2025, 13% of jury trials ended in an acquittal (1,838 of 14,615), compared with 31% of bench trials (696 of 2,234). In contested Army and Air Force courts-martial that reached a verdict, 31% of cases decided by a military judge alone ended in a full acquitta

  • No Confinement: Federal Probation vs. Court-Martial Sentences With No Confinement

    In courts-martial with trial dates from 2016 to 2025, 1,286 of 7,813 convictions with a sentence recorded (16%) had no confinement. In federal court, 46,079 of 659,036 people sentenced (7%) received probation only. The numbers describe different sentences and different kinds of cases.

  • Acquittal Rates for Child Pornography and Sexual Abuse Charges: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial

    Federal trials for child pornography (images of child exploitation) ended in an acquittal 3% of the time: 9 of 328 trials in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Federal sexual abuse trials ended in an acquittal 29% of the time: 79 of 276. Among contested Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial that reach

  • Obstruction of Justice and Perjury: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences

    Federal court sentenced 1,256 people under the obstruction of justice guideline (§2J1.2) in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and the median prison term was 18 months. Courts-martial recorded 329 convictions for obstruction of justice (Article 131b) with trial dates from 2016 to 2025, and the median confin

  • Robbery and Kidnapping: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

    Federal court sentenced 14,661 people for robbery and 1,075 for kidnapping in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, with median prison terms of 92 months and 164 months. Court-martial records show 19 kidnapping convictions from 2021 to 2025, with a median adjudged confinement of 14.9 months. The records show o

  • Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025

    From 2016 to 2025, the median confinement for a court-martial conviction of aggravated assault under Article 128 was 11.3 months, based on 214 convictions. In federal court, the median prison term was 40 months, based on 4,493 people sentenced under guideline §2A2.2 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The

  • Murder and Manslaughter: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

    For murder, the median prison term in federal court was 292 months, compared with a median adjudged confinement of 198 months in courts-martial under Article 118. For manslaughter, the figures were close: 63 months in federal court and 60 months in courts-martial. These numbers cover convictions and

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