Military Justice: DOD and the Coast Guard Need to Improve Their Capabilities to Assess Racial Disparities

Abstract

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) was established to provide a statutory framework that promotes fair administration of military justice. Every active-duty servicemember is subject to the UCMJ, with more than 258,000 individuals disciplined from fiscal years 2013-2017, out of more than 2.3 million unique active-duty servicemembers. A key principle of the UCMJ is that a fair and just system of military law can foster a highly disciplined force. This statement provides information on 1) the collection of race and ethnicity information in the military services' databases, 2) the extent of racial disparities in investigations, disciplinary actions, and case outcomes in the military justice system, and 3) steps taken by DOD to study any identified disparities. This statement is based on GAO-19-344 issued on May 30, 2019. As part of that work, GAO analyzed data from the investigations, military justice, and personnel databases from the military services, including the Coast Guard, from fiscal years 2013-2017 and interviewed agency officials.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 16, 2020
Accession Number
AD1149526

Entities

People

  • Brenda S. Farrell

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Coast Guard
  • Congress
  • Court Martial
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Governments
  • Hispanics
  • Homeland Security
  • Law
  • Law Enforcement
  • Military Law
  • Military Personnel
  • Minority Groups
  • National Security
  • Native Americans
  • Personnel Management
  • Regression Analysis
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.
  • Women's Health and Cancer Risk Research: African American Women and Pregnancy Outcomes.