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1 1 (November 2, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveest0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional *.Research Service Military Criminal Justice System November 2, 2021 Background Military law comprises federal law, constitutional authority, and inherent command authority. It is meant to promote justice, efficiency, and discipline in the armed services. Jurisdiction under military law is based on the U. S. Constitution and relevant aspects of international law. Military law jurisdiction is exercised through four distinct forums: (1) courts-martial, (2) courts of inquiry, (3) military commissions, and (4) non-judicial punishment proceedings (10 U.S.C. §§815, 816, 935). Throughout the 1940s, Congress received evidence of military justice maladministration. The primary concerns were the system's lack of due process and independence. Congress responded to these concerns by enacting the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in 1950, which applies to each armed service and replaced the prior military justice system. The punitive articles in the UCMJ are military law offenses (10 U.S.C. §§877-934). Many of the punitive articles are criminal conduct offenses that have a referent offense in modern penal codes or historical common law (e.g., rape, murder, robbery). Other punitive articles are military misconduct offenses that have a referent offense in medieval chivalric codes or Roman military practices (e.g., mutiny, desertion, cowardice). Judge Advocates Each armed service has a senior legal officer known as the Judge Advoc ate General (JAG) (10 U.S. C. §801(1)) who is the principal legal officer responsible for military justice matters. The attorneys whom they appoint to serve as legal officers throughout the service are responsible for implementing the military justice system (10 U. S. C. §806). When serving as a military justice practitioner, the roles and functions of these judge advocate officers resemble those of attorneys in a civilian criminal justice system. Although legislative reforms establishing the UCMJ relied on civilian criminal law and procedure as a model, the reforms also preserved many historical attributes of military justice, such as a commander's discipline and disposition authority. This meant that while the UCMJ replicated a civilian criminal justice system overall, the reforms did not allow military lawyers to make decisions regarding the criminal Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11787 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress

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