Even If It Ain’t Broke, Why Not Fix It? Three Proposed Improvements to the Uniform Code of Military Justice

In the spirit of responsiveness and resilience, this article proposes what the authors believe are three important changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice: (1) incorporating a “no-adverse-inference” warning into Article 31(b) (the military version of Miranda warnings), (2) transforming the Article 32 pretrial investigation into a preliminary hearing process, and (3) expressly enumerating a limited category of offenses for which civilians accompanying the force in the held can be held responsible. While each proposal focuses on a different aspect of military justice – criminal investigations, pretrial hearings, and trial procedures for civilians accompanying the force – each proposal is connected to a broader theme of ensuring fairness in the system while preserving military readiness.

Lead Author

Geoffrey S. Corn
Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former military attorney and intelligence officer, is the Gary A. Kuiper Distinguished Professor of National Security Law at South Texas College of Law Houston and a Distinguished Fellow for the Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy of the Jewish Institute for National Security in America.
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