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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.

See all federal prosecution analysis

Latest Analysis

  • Stealing From the Government: 18 U.S.C. 641 and False Claims vs. Articles 121 and 124

    Federal prosecutors charged 9,190 defendants under 18 U.S.C. 641 (theft of government money or property) in cases that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 6,127 (67%) pleaded guilty, and 38 of the 164 who went to trial were acquitted (23%). Courts-martial recorded 259 Article 121 convictions that me

  • Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial

    Federal courts sentenced 53,639 people under the theft and fraud guideline (§2B1.1) in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and the median prison term was 21 months. Courts-martial recorded 626 Article 121 convictions in those years, with a median adjudged confinement of 5 months. Federal sentences rose with

  • Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

    Federal courts sentenced 160,460 people for drug trafficking cases without an import statute in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, with a median prison term of 65 months. Courts-martial recorded 408 convictions for wrongful distribution under Article 112a in the same years, with a median adjudged confinemen

  • Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare

    Federal law has no crime of drug use. A positive drug test is not a federal offense, and a civilian can be charged only with possessing the drug. Courts-martial recorded 1,071 convictions for wrongful drug use under Article 112a from 2016 to 2025, and 938 of those with a sentence recorded (88%) incl

  • Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial

    The median adjudged confinement for an Article 120b conviction was 36 months (3 years), for 605 convictions with trial dates from 2016 to 2025. The median federal prison term for child sexual abuse and enticement offenses was 120 months (10 years), for 4,971 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to

  • Sexual Abuse of an Adult: Federal Cases vs. Article 120 Courts-Martial

    The median adjudged confinement for an Article 120 conviction involving an adult was 24 months, for 901 convictions with trial dates from 2016 to 2025. The median federal prison term for sexual abuse of an adult was 74 months (6.2 years), for 531 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Federa

  • Producing Child Pornography: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

    The median federal prison term for producing child pornography (images of child exploitation) was 246 months (20.5 years), for 5,806 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median adjudged confinement at a court-martial was 89.9 months (7.5 years), for 58 convictions with trial dates from

  • Child Pornography Sentences: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, 2016–2025

    The median confinement for a court-martial conviction for child pornography (images of child exploitation) was 22.5 months, for 491 convictions with trial dates from 2016 to 2025. The median federal prison term was 90 months, for 13,646 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Federal terms we

  • Guilty Pleas in Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, Year by Year

    In federal court, 97% of people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty: 642,522 of 659,036. Among courts-martial with a plea recorded, trial dates 2016 to 2025, 64% were guilty pleas: 5,113 of 8,026. Guilty pleas were more common in federal court, but the numbers count different group

  • Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?

    From 2016 to 2025, 38% of contested courts-martial that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal: 1,104 of 2,870. In federal court over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 15% of trials ended in an acquittal: 2,534 of 16,849. Courts-martial ended in acquittal more often, but the numbers do not count the s

  • Federal Prosecution Analysis

    Federal prosecutions compared with courts-martial: sentences, guilty pleas, trials and acquittals, mandatory minimums, and supervised release, offense by offense, FY2016–2025.

  • How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built

    Where the federal comparison numbers come from: 659,036 people sentenced (U.S. Sentencing Commission) and 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended (Federal Judicial Center), FY2016–2025, checked against 443 published figures.

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