Located here are documents relevant to the ongoing discussion about military justice structural changes and other reforms. But first a word from former Judge Quinn of the then Court of Military Appeals.
"Criticism can be helpful or vituperative. The Uniform Code and the United States Court of Military Appeals have been subjected to both types. So far as the Code is concerned, Congress is the constitutional arbiter of its usefulness and effectiveness in governing the men and women in the armed forces. Individual members of Congress may be sensitive to criticism of any kind, but, as a body, Congress is not normally induced to enact legislation by private platitudes or personal preferences. It is not surprising, therefore, that it gave no serious attention, a few years after the Uniform Code had been in operation, to the nostalgic plea by Admiral Ira N. Nunn, The Judge Advocate General of the Navy, that Congress return to the Navy the paternalistic system of military justice that obtained under the Articles for the Government of the Navy. It similarly disregarded the bald representation of The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force that “military justice was administered more efficiently” under the old Elston Act than under the Uniform Code." Congress has, however, over the years, been readily responsive to demonstrated deficiencies in the Uniform Code."
Robert E. Quinn, The Role of Criticism in the Development of Law. 35 MIL. L. REV. 47, 50 (1967).
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***The National Institute of Military Justice, in cooperation with CAAFlog and Global Military Justice Reform, today released the Military Justice Reform Sourcebook for Legislators and Journalists (June 2021).
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Legislation.
Related Committees, investigations, and reports.
"Criticism can be helpful or vituperative. The Uniform Code and the United States Court of Military Appeals have been subjected to both types. So far as the Code is concerned, Congress is the constitutional arbiter of its usefulness and effectiveness in governing the men and women in the armed forces. Individual members of Congress may be sensitive to criticism of any kind, but, as a body, Congress is not normally induced to enact legislation by private platitudes or personal preferences. It is not surprising, therefore, that it gave no serious attention, a few years after the Uniform Code had been in operation, to the nostalgic plea by Admiral Ira N. Nunn, The Judge Advocate General of the Navy, that Congress return to the Navy the paternalistic system of military justice that obtained under the Articles for the Government of the Navy. It similarly disregarded the bald representation of The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force that “military justice was administered more efficiently” under the old Elston Act than under the Uniform Code." Congress has, however, over the years, been readily responsive to demonstrated deficiencies in the Uniform Code."
Robert E. Quinn, The Role of Criticism in the Development of Law. 35 MIL. L. REV. 47, 50 (1967).
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***The National Institute of Military Justice, in cooperation with CAAFlog and Global Military Justice Reform, today released the Military Justice Reform Sourcebook for Legislators and Journalists (June 2021).
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Legislation.
- National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022.
- Jordan Williams, Defense bill sets up next fight over military justice. The Hill, Dec. 30, 2021.
- Dan Maurer, What the FY 2022 NDAA Does, and Does Not Do, to Military Justice. Lawfire, Dec. 30, 2021.
- Presidential Statement on S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
- Ott & Kamarck, Military Justice Disposition Delimitation Legislation in the 117th Congress. Congressional Research Service, October 18, 2021.
- H.R.4104, Vanessa Guillén Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. The Act is "a companion to S. 1520." Introduced / referred to the HASC June, 23, 2021, with 206 co-sponsors.
- The “Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act of 2021." (Introduced in the Senate on 29 April 2021.)
- The National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ) statement on PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION UNDER THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE.
- "I am Vanessa Guillen Act." (introduced September 2020.) (Reintroduced 13 May 2021 by US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) — along with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).)
- One similarity with the MJI&IPA is that it "Shift[s] prosecutorial decisions for sexual harassment and sexual assault cases outside the chain of command to an Office of the Chief Prosecutor established within each military service."
- Military Justice Improvement Act (2020)
- Military Justice Improvement Act (2019)
Related Committees, investigations, and reports.
- Shadow Advisory Report Group of Experts (SARGE), Statement on the Report of the Independent Review Commission
on Sexual Assault in the Military. July 7, 2021. - Hard Truths and the Duty to Change: Recommendations for the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military. 2 July 2021.
- Here is a link to Department of Defense budget posture in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 202210 June 2020, in which Secretary Austin and General Milley testified. (Goto 1:10:00 on the video for relevant testimony.)
- Fort Hood Independent Review Report (Nov. 2020).
- DoD Joint Proceedings Panel.
- Military Justice Review Group.
- Global Seminar on Military Justice Reform, held at Yale Law School, 2014.
- Shadow Advisory Report Group of Experts (SARGE), Alternative Authority for Determining Whether to Prefer or Refer Charges for Felony Offenses Under the Uniform Code Of Military Justice. 20 April 2020.
- Supplemental Memorandum of the Shadow Advisory Group of Experts. 8 July 2020.
- The Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces Report on Investigative Case File Reviews for Military Adult Penetrative Sexual Offense Cases Closed in Fiscal Year 2017 on October 19, 2020.
- Eugene R. Fidell, Comments on the Joint Service Committee Subcommittee Prosecutorial Authority Study. 2 October 2020.
- Report of Joint Service Committee Prosecutorial Authority Study (JSS-PAS). September 2020.
- The Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces has released its Report on Racial and Ethnic Data Relating to Disparities in the Investigation, Prosecution, and Conviction of Sexual Offenses in the Military on December 15, 2020.
- Kyle Yoerg, Unequal Justice: Why Congress Should Expand the Supreme Court’s Jurisdiction to Review the Courts-Martial System. J. of Nat'l Security Law & Policy, June, 13, 2021.
- The National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ) statement on PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION UNDER THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE.
- Current President NIMJ, Rachel E. VanLandingham, Professional Criminal Prosecution Versus The Siren Song of Command: The Road to Improve Military Justice. Just Security, 21 June 2021.
- Catie Carson, A Comparison of Sexual Assaults in the U.S., Canada, and England. Undergraduate Review, 3, 57-69 (2007).
- Director (and past President) NIMJ, Eugene R. Fidell, Military Justice Reform, the 2020 Pledge, and the President’s Power. Just Security, 14 February 2020.
- Director and Former President of NIMJ Gene Fidell talks about "Military Justice at a Turning Point (Life In The Law)" here.
- Law Professors' Statement on Reform of Military Justice, 7 June 2013.
- Dissenting Statement of Elizabeth L. Hillman and Harvey Bryant, Response Systems Panel on Military Sexual Assault, 22 June 2014.
- Lambert Jackson, The Mandatory Modernizing of Military Justice, Marine Corps Gazette, May 2021.
- Victor M. Hansen, Removing military commanders from sexual assault cases won't yield meaningful solutions. USAToday, 7 May 2021.
- Rachel VanLandingham & Geoffrey S. Corn, Two for One: The Ethical Pursuit of Justice i the Military, and Battlefield Success, Through Joint Prosecutorial Decisions.
- A [Presidential] Proclamation on National Sexual Assault Prevention And Awareness Month, 2021.
- Emily Hazen, Restructuring U.S. Military Justice Through a Comparative Analysis of Israeli Defense Forces. 34 WISCONSIN J. LAW, GENDER, & SOCIETY 180 (2019).
- Federico Andreu-Guzmán, Military jurisdiction and international law: Military courts and gross human rights violations, Vo. 1, International Commission of Jurists.
- David A. Schlueter, American Military Justice Reform Responding to the Siren Songs for Reform. 73 A.F. L. REV. 194 (2015).
- Edward F. Sherman, Congressional Proposals for Reform of Military Law. 10 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 25 (1971).
- SecDef Memo, Immediate Actions to Counter Sexual Assault and Harassment and the Establishment of a 90-Day Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military.
- Tailhook. (Those of us on active duty at the time remember this.)