Our Mission
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is structured and practiced in such a way that servicemembers are not afforded the same key Constitutional protections as other Americans.
It is our mission to bring about meaningful UCMJ reform to bring that system up to date and on par with the civilian courts.
Our Partners
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How We Fix The Military Justice System
Remove Commanders from the Law Enforcement Process
But, allow commanders to maintain the good order and discipline of the service by maintaining Non-Judicial Punishment Powers under Article 15, UCMJ.
What it is now: If someone is suspected of committing a crime, their chain of command is notified. The Chain of Command then notifies Law Enforcement if they believe it is serious enough. This is tantamount to the town mayor deciding whether Jane Citizen should be charged after being arrested on drunk driving.
Create a Military District Attorney
A legal expert should make the criminal justice decisions in terms of whether to charge someone with a crime, and what to charge them with. This position should mirror the civilian district/state's attorney position already in place around the country.
What it is now: Commanders make the decision to charge a servicemember based upon the good order and discipline of the military, not a legal and factual analysis of conduct.
Make Military Police Independent from the Normal Chain of Command
Military Police should not feel any sort of interference or command influence from the leadership of the military. They should have an independent, but integrated, role within the military justice system.
What it is now: The military police only get involved if they are invited in by the commander, or if they directly respond to an emergency call, traffic stop, etc.
Create a Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces
This new four-star flag officer should answerable ONLY to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. This is necessary to establish an independent judiciary. No lawyer should ever answer to a commander who is not a lawyer themselves.
What it is now: All six branches of service have their own Judge Advocate General of Army, Navy, Coast Guard, etc. These two or three star admirals and generals report to their respective four-star service’s chief of staff, who is not a lawyer.
Create an Inter-Service Jury-Panel Commission
This commission should be located in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces, and its commissioners should be appointed for a limited number of terms, and should not be members of the military or military reserve forces.
How it works now: a simple computer software shuffles names up and chooses them at random. The problem is that it only chooses the names from a pool that are entered in by the prosecutor. This creates the opportunity for stacking the jury with prosecution-friendly jurors.
Create a Military Conviction Integrity Unit
This commission should be located in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces, and its commissioners should be appointed for a limited number of terms, and should not be members of the military or military reserve forces.
How it works now: Nothing like this exists. Wrongly convicted military men and women have no recourse, as almost all Innocence Project type organizations are unfamiliar
with military law.