Congressional Oversight: The New Mortal Enemy of Military Justice
Abstract
This Thesis will examine Congressional action in relation to high-profile military justice cases in the past ten years to determine if it improperly influenced the processing of those cases. As the military dealt with an increase in the number and severity of high-profile cases, they also had to deal with an increase in Congressional attention on the processing of those cases. With that increased attention came demands for action. This Thesis will discuss the duties of Congress, with respect to the military justice system, in relation to the military and evaluate its recent actions to determine if they have exceeded those duties. To fully understand the scope of those duties, as well as the Congressional intent to maintain a separate system of military justice and the concept of command control of that system, the history of the Articles of War and the Uniform Code of Military Justice will also be reviewed. This Thesis will discuss the concept of unlawful command influence and the danger it poses to the fair and impartial operation of a system that principally relies on the discretion of the commander to determine what cases to prosecute. To understand what actions may cause unlawful command influence, this Thesis will evaluate the actions a commander may, or must, lawfully do in connection with the processing of military justice actions. Four solutions are proposed to combat the perceived unlawful command influence in the six recent cases discussed in the Thesis. The enactment of these proposals will ensure the continued fair and impartial operation of the military justice system under the pressures of intense oversight as well as develop and maintain the perception of fairness to the public and the soldier.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA439865
Entities
People
- Misti E. Rawles