Reforming Military Justice: An Analysis of the Military Justice Act of 2016

Authors

David A. Schlueter, St. Mary's University School of LawFollow

Abstract

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 USC §§ 801-946, is the statutory template for the United States' military justice system. The UCMJ addresses topics such as court-martial jurisdiction, and pretrial, trial, and appellate procedures. It also includes punitive articles which proscribe, not only common law offenses, but also offenses unique to the military. Congress made significant changes to the UCMJ in the Military Justice Act of 2016. The legislation not only amended a significant number of existing articles, but also added many new articles. In addition, Congress completely reorganized the punitive articles. In this article, Professor Schlueter addresses the Military Justice Act and provides an analysis of those changes, noting that not since its enactment in 1950, has the UCMJ been amended in such a dramatic fashion. The article includes a chart as an appendix which lists the amended and new provisions to the UCMJ, the substance of each change, the legislative source for those changes, and comments about the changes.

First Page

1

Last Page

164

Date Created

1-1-2017

Publisher

St. Mary's University School of Law

Editor

Daniela Mondragón

Recommended Citation

David A. Schlueter, Reforming Military Justice: An Analysis of the Military Justice Act of 2016, 49 St. Mary's L.J. 1 (2017).
Available at: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thestmaryslawjournal/vol49/iss1/1