The U S Naval Institute On Military Justice

Justice and discipline have shaped the U.S. Navy since the inception of the American republic, in ways the reflect the meaning of citizenship and the culture of the nation. In the early Navy, ordinary sailors were mostly drawn from the lowest socioeconomic classes and brutally disciplined through sheer physical domination by upper-class officers. Flogging was a fairly routine punishment. By the 1970s, naval officers were wondering in public forums if discipline should be managed through non-coercive measures, arguing that sailors should be treated like lawyers or other members of a professional guild. America changed, so naval discipline changed. National politics reached into the Navy. Flogging was banned as a naval punishment because it became a symbol of slavery and an anti-republican model of manhood. Southern, pro-slavery members of Congress voted against a flogging ban introduced by their abolitionist counterparts. Another important reality of naval discipline is that it has revealed the character of leaders in ways they often didn't notice or intend. Bad captains relied on punitive measures to control their crews; in a healthy command culture, fewer sailors requiredpunishment to motivate them to do their jobs. Finally, the post-World War II "civilianization" of naval justice has radically changed the procedural safeguards that protect sailors who face punishment for wrongdoing. But considerable debate continues: How far should civilianization go? How distinct is naval justice, and how much should it be set apart from the norms and expectations of civilian justice? In readings selected from Navy and Marine Corps leaders with direct experience in the naval justice system, this book shows how the Navy court-martial has changed over the decades, and how it hasn't, revealing the purpose and meaning of justice and discipline in the American sea services.

For decades, debate has raged over whether the military justice system is foremost a tool to preserve discipline within the armed forces or a means of dispensing justice on a par with civilian criminal justice systems. From the dawn of American military law in 1775 through World War II, the answer was obvious: military justice was primarily a tool commanders used to maintain discipline. In 1950, however, Congress enacted the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Through amendments over the past half century, the American military justice system has evolved into what it is today: not quite a mirror image of the civilian federal criminal justice system, but vastly more fair than in the days of drumhead courts and the lash, according to the authors, both practicing attorneys and former military officers. Their book scrutinizes the current military justice system, identifying its strengths and weaknesses and pointing the way toward further improvements. Included are essays written about the American military justice system over the past decade by such notable authorities as Sam Nunn, former Senator from Georgia; Andrew S. Effron, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and Brig. Gen. Jerry S.T. Pitzul, Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Forces. Some defend military justice, while others are critical. The book then shifts its focus overseas to compare the U.S. system with those of several other common law countries. Designed to provoke thought about military justice among military justice practitioners and military line officers alike, the book is introduced with an essay by William K. Suter, Clerk of the U.S. Supreme court.

"This textbook in military law was prepared in the Academic Division of the Executive Department for the instruction of midshipmen in the fundamentals of the "Uniform Code of Military Justice"--Introd.

An introduction to military naval law focusing on the development and history of law for land and sea forces and constitutional, criminal, administrative, and international law. Thirteen chapters discuss topics such as the forums and procedures used to dispose of military offenses such as court-martials and administrative forums; cases that question and apply the basic elements and tenets of what are termed uniquely military crimes; the evolving law of government ethics and the constraints that it imposes on military personnel; the tensions between the constitutional rights of members of the armed forces and the military including the nature of search and seizure and the Fourth Amendment and the use of the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination; the law of apprehension and restraint; and broad issues of international law such as war crimes and limits on the use of force.

In the U.S. Navy, “Wheel Books” were once found in the uniform pockets of every junior and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a substitute for experience among neophytes and as a portable library of reference information for more experienced personnel, those weathered pages contained everything from the time of the next tide, to leadership hints from a respected chief petty officer, to the color coding of the phone-and-distance line used in underway replenishments. In that same tradition, the new Naval Institute Wheel Books will provide supplemental information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute’s vast archives, the series will combine articles from the Institute’s flagship publication Proceedings, selections from the oral history collection and from Naval Institute Press books to create unique guides on a wide array of fundamental professional subjects. Command is the pinnacle of leadership in a military organization. Navy regulations define both the authority and the responsibility of command as “absolute.” This Naval Institute Wheel Book provides practical guidance and advice that actual and would-be commanders can use to carry out that absolute authority. Included in this carefully selected collection is the experience of those who have commanded as well as the expectations of those who are commanded. Aspirants as well as practitioners will do well to exploit this selected survey of what Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz described as the “one purpose” for entering the Navy.