A Year of Courts-Martial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: 2017
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii held 21 courts-martial in 2017. All 19 convictions included confinement, and the median confinement was 6 months, shorter than the 8 months across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2017.
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Trends › By Installation › Pearl Harbor, Hawaii › 2017
Short answer: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii held 21 courts-martial in 2017. All 19 convictions included confinement, and the median confinement was 6 months, shorter than the 8 months across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2017. Only 19% of cases were contested, compared with 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
A Shorter Median Confinement
Of 19 convictions, 19 carried confinement. The median confinement was 6 months. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, the median was 8 months.
These are adjudged sentences, as imposed at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.
General and Special Courts-Martial
There were 10 general courts-martial and 11 special courts-martial. At the general level, 8 of 8 convictions brought confinement, with a median of 1 year. At the special level, 100% of convictions brought confinement, with a median of 4 months.
A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Pleas and Acquittals
Of the 21 accused, 17 pleaded guilty and 4 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 19%, lower than the 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Of the 4 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal.
Drugs, Assault, and Child Sexual Offenses
Charges are listed for 20 of the 21 cases. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 7 cases (35%). The drug share was higher than the 31% across the Navy and Marine Corps, and the assault share was about the same as the 37% there.
Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 4 cases, or 20%, compared with 10%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) also appeared in 4 cases. Article 113 (misbehavior of a sentinel) appeared in 2 cases (10%), compared with 1%. A case with several articles counts under each.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Navy and Marine Corps docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 7 | 35% | 31% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 7 | 35% | 37% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 20% | 19% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 4 | 20% | 10% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 15% | 10% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 15% | 11% |
| Art. 113 Misbehavior of a sentinel | 2 | 10% | 1% |
| Art. 134 General article | 2 | 10% | 13% |
Punitive Discharges
Of 18 convicted enlisted members, 13 received a punitive discharge (72%): 9 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. The share across the Navy and Marine Corps was 68%. 1 officer or warrant officer was convicted and was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
More NCOs Than Junior Enlisted
By rank, 13 accused were NCOs, 7 were junior enlisted members, and 1 was an officer. This group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole. General courts-martial made up 48% of the cases (10 of 21).
Twentynine Palms and Kaneohe Bay
Twentynine Palms, California tried 20 cases in 2017 and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay tried 24. Twentynine Palms had the same median confinement as Pearl Harbor, 6 months. Kaneohe Bay's median was 1 year. Pearl Harbor had the lowest punitive discharge rate of these installations, at 72%, compared with 80% and 83%.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | 21 | 19% | 2 of 4 | 6 months | 72% |
| Twentynine Palms, California | 20 | — | — | 6 months | 80% |
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay | 24 | — | — | 1 year | 83% |
Rules in 2017 and Record Limits
These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial, and brought in written plea agreements.
The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with a trial date in 2017 (21 cases).
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
- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Tried in 2016 (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 2013–2018? 83 Courts-Martial (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2021
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.