sea CHange For MiliTarY JusTiCe
Military & Veterans affairs Committee
Chairs: David Veenstra – Hunter Law, P.A & Alexandra Srsic – Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.
S
igned into law by President
Obama in December
2016, the Military Justice
Act of 2016 took effect
on January 1, 2019. It provides
the most sweeping changes to the
military justice system since the
Uniform Code of Military Justice
was implemented in 1951. Among
other things, the Act:
1) Created a new special
court-martial colloquially
known as the “short-martial.”
This new court-martial removes the
accused’s option to elect a member
52
panel (military
version of a jury),
instead mandating
the judge-alone
option for both
findings and
sentencing. While
the traditional
special court-
martial remains
eligible to award
up to a year of
confinement and
a bad conduct
discharge, this new
“short-martial”
can only award
confinement of up
to six months and
cannot adjudge a
punitive discharge.
2) Standardized
and increased
the required sizes
of members
panels. Special
The act provides
the most sweeping
changes to the
military justice
system since the
uniform Code of
Military Justice was
implemented in 1951.
courts-martial now
require a panel size
of four members,
an increase over the
previous requirement
of at least three
members. General
courts-martial now
require a panel size
of eight members,
an increase over the
previous requirement
of at least five
members.
3) Increased the
member concur-
rence percentage
necessary for a
finding of guilt
and for sentencing.
Members panels
now require a
three-fourths vote
to convict and to
Continued on page 53
MAR - APR 2019
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HCBA LAWYER