Inside 44 Courts-Martial at Parris Island, South Carolina, 2019–2023

Trends › By Installation › Parris Island, South Carolina › 2019–2023

Based on 44 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Longer Confinement Than the Rest of the Service

Of the 44 cases, 41 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 34 of those sentences included confinement (83%). The median confinement was 11 months. Across the Navy and Marine Corps in the same years, the median was 6 months.

A quarter of the confinement sentences here were 1.6 years or longer. These figures are adjudged sentences, meaning the sentence announced at trial. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal could later shorten the time served. Each sentence covers every charge in the case, not a single offense.

Most of the difference is in the middle of the range. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year were 37% of convictions here, compared with 24% service-wide. Sentences under 6 months were 20%, compared with 35%. Sentences of more than 1 year but under 5 years were 22%, compared with 19%. The share with no confinement (17%) and the share with 5 years or more (5%) were the same as in the service as a whole.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. 82% of enlisted convictions at Parris Island included one: 26 bad-conduct discharges and 7 dishonorable discharges. The Navy and Marine Corps rate was 63%.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separations do not appear in court-martial records.

Orders Violations and Larceny Were More Common

Charge shares use the 41 cases whose records list charges. A single case can count under several articles. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 34% of cases here, against 18% across the service. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 20%, against 9%.

Article 107 (false official statements) appeared in 17% of cases, compared with 8%. Article 131b (obstructing justice) appeared in 12%, compared with 6%. Article 128 (assault) was less common: 22% of cases here, compared with 31% service-wide. Drug cases under Article 112a appeared in 29%, compared with 25%.

Results for the Most Common Charges

Every case charging one of the most common articles ended in a conviction on that article. That was 14 cases for Article 92, 12 for Article 112a, 10 for Article 134 (the general article), and 9 for Article 128.

Median confinement differed by charge. It was 11 months when the conviction included Article 92, 1.3 years for Article 112a, 1 year for Article 134, and 10 months for Article 128. One case can include several articles, so these rows overlap. Each median covers the whole sentence in those cases.

Pleas Where the Record Shows Them

A case counts as contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Only 20 of the 44 records list a plea. Of those, 6 were contested and 14 were guilty pleas. That is 30% contested. In the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, the contested share was 31%.

0 of the 6 contested cases ended in a full acquittal. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so these counts use only the records that list one. The records do not show why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.

Court Levels and Rank

General courts-martial tried 20 of the 44 cases (45%), about the same as the 44% service-wide. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The median confinement was 1.6 years in the 20 general courts-martial and 7 months in the 24 special courts-martial.

By rank, 26 of the accused were junior enlisted members, 14 were NCOs, and 0 were officers. That mix is similar to the service overall.

Changes Since 2017–2018

In 2017–2018, the 2 years with cases on record, Parris Island had 20 cases, about 10 a year. It has had about 9 a year since, counting full years only. By year: 7 in 2019, 14 in 2020, 6 in 2021, 4 in 2022, and 13 in 2023. The 44 cases were 2% of the 1,991 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years.

The median confinement was 2 years in 2017–2018 and 11 months in 2019–2023. The punitive discharge rate for convicted enlisted members was 63% earlier and 82% later. The share of convictions with confinement was 80% earlier and 83% later. The general court-martial share was 50% earlier and 45% later. With groups this small, a few cases can change a figure, so these changes show direction, not precise size.

How Similar Installations Compare

MCAS Miramar, California and Pensacola, Florida tried a similar number of cases in the same years, 42 each. Parris Island had the longest median confinement of the 3: 11 months, compared with 6 months at Miramar and 3 months at Pensacola. It also had the highest punitive discharge rate: 82%, compared with 66% and 56%.

Pensacola had 59% of its cases contested, and 14 of its 24 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. Miramar had the same contested share as Parris Island, 30%. Both had 0 full acquittals in 6 contested cases that reached a verdict.

What the Records Cannot Show

Trial records list charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, or misconduct handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Missing plea data in older Navy and Marine Corps records also limits the comparisons.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.