Comparing Parris Island, South Carolina and Pensacola, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
Parris Island, South Carolina had 44 courts-martial from 2019–2023, and Pensacola, Florida had 42. The median confinement was 11 months at Parris Island, compared with 3 months at Pensacola.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Parris Island, South Carolina › vs. Pensacola, Florida
Short answer: Parris Island, South Carolina had 44 courts-martial from 2019–2023, and Pensacola, Florida had 42. The median confinement was 11 months at Parris Island, compared with 3 months at Pensacola. Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, was charged in 34% of Parris Island cases, compared with 15% at Pensacola.
Median Confinement Was Higher at Parris Island
41 of the 44 Parris Island cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 34 of those sentences included confinement (83%). The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 3 months at Pensacola. A quarter of the Parris Island sentences were 1.6 years or longer.
The most common sentence range at Parris Island was 6 months to 1 year, at 37% of convictions. At Pensacola, the most common range was under 6 months, at 59%. Sentences of more than one year were 11 of 41 Parris Island convictions (27%), compared with 11% at Pensacola.
These are adjudged sentences: the sentence announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Pensacola, Florida |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 17% | 11% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 20% | 59% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 15 | 37% | 19% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 9 | 22% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 5% | 0% |
Confinement at Each Court Level
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. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.
Parris Island had 20 general and 24 special courts-martial. The general share was 45%, compared with 55% at Pensacola. In the general courts-martial, 95% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.6 years. In the special courts-martial, 73% did, with a median of 7 months.
Charges at the Two Installations
The charge lists cover 41 of the 44 Parris Island cases. A case with three articles counts under all three. Article 92 was the most common charge, in 14 cases (34%). Article 112a, the drug article, was next, in 12 cases (29%), compared with 17% at Pensacola.
Article 121, larceny, appeared in 20% of Parris Island cases and 5% of Pensacola cases. Article 107, false official statements, appeared in 17% and 5%. Two charges were less common at Parris Island. Article 120, rape and sexual assault, appeared in 17% of cases, compared with 44%. Article 128, assault, appeared in 22%, compared with 44%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Pensacola, Florida cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 14 | 34% | 15% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 12 | 29% | 17% |
| Art. 134 General article | 10 | 24% | 12% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 22% | 44% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 8 | 20% | 5% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 7 | 17% | 44% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 7 | 17% | 5% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 5 | 12% | 5% |
Every Top Charge Ended in a Conviction
Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article in 14 of 14 cases (100%). Article 112a did so in 12 of 12 (100%), Article 134 in 10 of 10 (100%), and Article 128 in 9 of 9.
When the conviction included Article 112a, the median confinement was 1.3 years. It was 1 year for Article 134, 11 months for Article 92, and 10 months for Article 128. One case can include several of these articles, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 14 | 14 (100%) | 11 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 12 | 12 (100%) | 1.3 years |
| Art. 134 General article | 10 | 10 (100%) | 1 year |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 10 months |
Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. 33 of 40 convicted enlisted members at Parris Island received one (82%). At Pensacola the share was 56%. 7 of the 33 Parris Island discharges were dishonorable.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separations are not in these records.
Pleas and Contested Verdicts
Only 20 of the 44 Parris Island records list the plea. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so these counts use only the records that list them. Of the 20, 14 were guilty pleas and 6 were not-guilty or mixed pleas.
A case with a not-guilty or mixed plea counts as contested. The contested share was 30% at Parris Island and 59% at Pensacola. At Parris Island, 0 of 6 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. At Pensacola, 14 of 24 did.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parris Island, South Carolina | 44 | 30% | 0 of 6 | 11 months | 82% |
| Pensacola, Florida | 42 | 59% | 14 of 24 | 3 months | 56% |
Rank of the Accused
Among the accused with rank recorded, 26 were junior enlisted members and 14 were NCOs. No officers appear. The Parris Island group was more junior than the Pensacola group.
Cases by Year
The Parris Island records run from January 2019 to December 2023. There were 7 cases in 2019, 14 in 2020, 6 in 2021, 4 in 2022, and 13 in 2023. The two installations tried a similar number of cases, so the comparison uses shares, not counts. With groups this small, a few cases can change a share.
Limits of the Records
The trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, or conduct handled outside a court-martial, such as nonjudicial punishment.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Parris Island, South Carolina (44) and Pensacola, Florida (42) with trial dates in 2019–2023. Each figure for Parris Island, South Carolina is set beside the same figure for Pensacola, Florida.
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
- Parris Island, South Carolina: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Pensacola, Florida: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Camp Pendleton, California: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2013–2018
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Camp Pendleton, California and San Diego, California, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
- Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Parris Island, South Carolina, 2019–2023
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.