Pensacola, Florida and Okinawa, Japan, 2013–2018: How Their Courts-Martial Compare

Trends › By Installation › Pensacola, Florida › vs. Okinawa, Japan

Based on 74 cases · 2013–2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Shorter Sentences at Pensacola

61 Pensacola cases ended in a conviction, and 84% of those sentences included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months. At Okinawa, the median was 2 years. A quarter of the Pensacola sentences were 3 years or longer.

Sentences under 6 months were the most common range at Pensacola, at 41% of convictions. At Okinawa, that range was 14%. Sentences of more than one year were 17 of 61 Pensacola convictions (28%), compared with 55% at Okinawa. Sentences of 5 years or more were 8% at Pensacola and 25% at Okinawa.

Each figure is the adjudged sentence. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal could later reduce it. The sentence also covers all charges in the case together.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. At Pensacola, 56% of enlisted convictions ended with one: 20 bad-conduct discharges and 11 dishonorable discharges. At Okinawa the share was 85%.

For officers, the equivalent of a punitive discharge is a dismissal. 6 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Pensacola records, and 5 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Contested Cases and Acquittals at Pensacola

In 27 Pensacola cases, the accused contested at least one charge by pleading not guilty to it. 45 accused pleaded guilty. The plea appears in 72 of the 74 records, so the contested share is 38%.

Of the 26 contested cases that reached a verdict, 12 ended in a full acquittal (46%). 3 more were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another. The Okinawa records for these years list too few pleas for a comparison.

56% of general courts-martial were contested, compared with 19% of special courts-martial. By charge, Article 134 cases had the highest guilty-plea rate among the top charges, 80% (8 of 10). Article 120 cases had a guilty-plea rate of 9% (2 of 22). No reason for any plea appears in the records.

Charges Compared

The charge lists cover 69 of the 74 Pensacola cases. A case can count under several articles. Article 128, assault, was the most common charge, in 38 cases (55%), compared with 42% at Okinawa. Article 120, rape and sexual assault, appeared in 32% of Pensacola cases and 30% of Okinawa cases.

Two charges were less common at Pensacola. Article 120b, child sexual abuse, appeared in 9% of cases, compared with 28% at Okinawa. Article 80, attempts, appeared in 12%, compared with 26%. Article 86, absence without leave, appeared in 7% of Pensacola cases and 3% of Okinawa cases.

Results for Each Top Charge

Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, ended in a conviction on that article in 11 of 12 cases (92%). Article 134 did so in 9 of 10 (90%), and Article 128 in 32 of 38 (84%). Article 120 had the lowest share: 14 of 22 cases (64%).

Median confinement varied by charge. It was 3.5 years when the conviction included Article 120 and 3 years for Article 134. It was 5 months for Article 128 and 4 months for Article 92. One case can include several of these articles, so the rows overlap.

Court Level and Rank

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. Pensacola had 36 general and 38 special courts-martial. The general share was 49%, compared with 66% at Okinawa.

The median confinement was 2.7 years in Pensacola general courts-martial and 3 months in special courts-martial. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.

The Pensacola accused were 32 junior enlisted members, 36 NCOs, and 6 officers. This group is more senior than the Okinawa group.

Cases by Year and the Law Then in Effect

The Pensacola records run from January 2013 to October 2018: 9 cases in 2013, 12 in 2014, 16 in 2015, 14 in 2016, 12 in 2017, and 11 in 2018.

All of these trials took place under the rules in force before January 1, 2019, the date the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. Its later changes included fixed panel sizes, written plea agreements, and a judge-alone special court-martial with a six-month cap and no punitive discharge.

What the Records Leave Out

Only cases tried by court-martial are counted. Misconduct handled by nonjudicial punishment, by administrative separation, or with no action does not appear. Nothing in the records describes the evidence or what a plea deal said. Many Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 leave out the plea and forum, and the plea figures here rely on the records that include it.

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.