Punitive Discharge with Retirement Pay. Windfall for the Accused or Justice for All?
Abstract
When retirement-eligible military members are court-martialed for any offense and are punitively discharged, by operation of law they forfeit retirement pay-an amount sometimes more than one million dollars. This forfeiture is a collateral consequence of receiving a punitive discharge-it is not a specific punishment imposed by the court-martial sentencing authority or by the convening authority who approved the court-martial's action. In some cases the loss of retirement pay is appropriate and reasonable; in other cases it is harsh and inappropriately severe. My thesis is that the court-martial members and the convening authority, not the operation of law, should deprive a member of retirement pay. This paper explores the implications of a new punishment, Punitive Discharge with Retirement Pay (PD&R). The PD&R would be a new punishment authorized at the trial of a retirement-eligible military member. The court members would be instructed that if they sentence the accused to a PD&R, the accused would be punitively discharged from service with the loss of all military benefits except retirement pay. The members would also be instructed that they are free to adjudge a traditional punitive discharge that carries with it the loss of retirement pay. Thus, the sentence adjudged would directly take into account whether the accused should be required to forfeit retirement pay as an aspect of the punishment, rather than leaving the determination to the collateral operation of law.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA405788
Entities
People
- Christopher C. Lozo
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College