U.S. military justice by the numbers: NJPs now outpace courts-martial 24 to 1

The U.S. military services reported their military justice statistics for FY 2024, as required by Article 146a of the UCMJ. The 2024 numbers are available here. 

One trend is that court-martial numbers continue their decrescendo while nonjudicial punishment (NJP, the disciplinary sanctions authorized by UCMJ article 15) remains prevalent. By the numbers: 

Service	Strength	NJP	CMs	NJP:CM ratio	GCM	SPCM-BCD	SPCM JA	SCM
Army	449,746	17,993	641	28:1	438	118	47	38
Navy	332,671	DNR	173	n/a	62	87	9	15
Air Force	320,947	3909	331	12:1	169	101	12	49
Marines	172,300	5066	229	22:1	75	95	15	44
USCG	DNR	DNR	9	n/a	5	2	1	1

The Navy did not report NJP numbers in 2024. If their numbers were the same as in 2023, 6231, they would have had a ratio of 36:1 NJP to courts-martial. 

Overall, assuming that the Navy's numbers stayed the same, and not counting the U.S. Coast Guard, the services had 33,199 NJPs and 1374 courts-martial in 2024. 

That is a ratio of more than 24:1. NJPs continue to trend up while courts-martial continue their decline; the ratio was 20:1 just two years earlier in FY 2022.