July 8, Chris Jenks, SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law professor (and co-author Geoffrey Corn, South Texas College of Law), for a piece that warns against proposed changes to military justice procedures. Published in The Hill: https://bit.ly/2Z9fAPv
This month Congress will decide whether to include the inaptly titled Military Justice Improvement Act of 2020 (MJIA) in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The main thrust of this amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice is to fundamentally change the way prosecutorial decisions are made in the military. Instead of the current system that entrusts these decisions to commanding officers acting on the advice of military attorney advisors, the amendment would require that the military attorney, acting alone, decide whether to charge a service member with a military crime and to direct the case to trial by court martial.
This proposal is unnecessary and ill advised. Prosecutorial authority is arguably the most important tool commanders possess to ensure a disciplined, effective fighting force and is inextricably linked to the commander’s responsibility to ensure the military readiness essential for mission accomplishment. Divesting commanders of this authority would degrade not only U.S. military combat capabilities but also the military’s response to sexual misconduct in the ranks. This latter effect is indeed ironic, because enhancing this response is the ostensible motivation for the proposal. . .
Continue reading “The military justice solution in search of a problem”