The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is the foundation of the system of military justice of the armed forces of the United States. The UCMJ was established by the United States Congress in accordance with their constitutional authority, per Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that "The Congress shall have Power . . . to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces" of the United States.
On June 30, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established 69 Articles of War to govern the conduct of the Continental Army.
Effective upon its ratification in 1788, Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution provided that Congress has the power to regulate the land and naval forces. On 10 April 1806, the United States Congress enacted 101 Articles of War, which were not significantly revised until over a century later. Discipline in the sea services was provided under the Articles for the Government of the United States Navy, commonly referred to as Rocks and Shoals.
The Articles of War evolved during the first half of the twentieth century and were amended in 1916 and 1920. In 1948, Congress substantially reformed the Articles pursuant to the Selective Service Act of 1948, but its naval counterpart remained little changed. The military justice system continued to operate under the Articles of War and Articles for the Government of the Navy until May 31, 1951, when the Uniform Code of Military Justice came into effect.
The UCMJ was passed by Congress on 5 May 1950, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman the next day. It took effect on May 31, 1951. The word uniform in the Code's title refers to its consistent application to all the armed services in place of the earlier Articles of War, Articles of Government, and Disciplinary Laws of the individual services. In addition to consolidating existing military law, the UCMJ created the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
The UCMJ, the Rules for Courts-Martial (RCM) (analogous to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure), and the Military Rules of Evidence (analogous to the Federal Rules of Evidence) have evolved since their implementation. They have often paralleled the development of the federal civilian criminal justice system. In some ways, the UCMJ has been ahead of changes in the civilian criminal justice system. For example, a rights-warning statement similar to the Miranda warnings (and required in more contexts than in the civilian world where it is applicable only to custodial interrogation) was required by Article 31 a decade and a half before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona. Article 38(b) continued the 1948 Articles of War guarantee that qualified defense counsel be provided to all accused without regard to indigence (and at earlier stages than required in civilian jurisdictions), whereas the U.S. Supreme Court only guaranteed the provision of counsel to indigents in Gideon v. Wainwright.
The role of what was originally a court-martial's non-voting "law member" developed into the present office of military judge whose capacity is little different from that of an Article III judge in a U.S. district court. At the same time, the "court-martial" itself, the panel of officers hearing the case and weighing the evidence, has converted from being essentially a board of inquiry/review presiding over the trial, into a jury of military service-members.
In 2013, at the Department of Defense's Judicial Proceedings Panel, Cortney Lollar testified that the UCMJ needed to be updated to improve the sections regarding sexual assault.
The current version of the UCMJ is printed in the latest edition of the Manual for Courts-Martial (2019), incorporating changes made by the president (executive orders) and National Defense Authorization Acts of 2006 and 2007.
Courts-martial are conducted under the UCMJ and the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM). If the trial results in a conviction, the case is reviewed by the convening authority – the commanding officer who referred the case for trial by court-martial. The power of the convening authority was reduced in 2014.
If the sentence, as approved by the convening authority, includes death, a bad conduct discharge, a dishonorable discharge, dismissal of an officer, or confinement for one year or more, the case is reviewed by an intermediate court. There are four such courts – the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals.
After review by any of these intermediate courts, the next level of appeal is the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). The Supreme Court of the United States has discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1259 to review cases under the UCMJ on direct appeal where the CAAF has conducted a mandatory review (death penalty and certified cases), granted discretionary review of a petition, or otherwise granted relief. If the CAAF denies a petition for review or a writ appeal, consideration by the Supreme Court may be obtained only through collateral review (e.g., a writ of habeas corpus). Since 2007, several bills have been introduced into Congress to expand the accessibility of service members to the Supreme Court.
Within the exceptions below, as codified in Article 2 of the UCMJ, personal jurisdiction attaches, regardless of the physical global location of the service member, over all members of the Uniformed Services of the United States: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
While the Coast Guard is administered under Title 14 of the United States Code when not operating as part of the U.S. Navy, individuals commissioned or enlisted in the Coast Guard are subject to the UCMJ as an armed force. Commissioned members of the NOAA and PHS, as uniformed services, are only subject to the UCMJ when attached or detailed to a military unit by competent orders, or when militarized by presidential executive order during a national emergency or declaration of war.
Members of the military Reserve Components under Title 10 of the United States Code (Army Reserve, Marine Forces Reserve, Navy Reserve, and Air Force Reserve), or Title 14 of the United States Code, Coast Guard Reserve when not operating as part of the U.S. Navy, are subject to the UCMJ when they are:
Full-Time Support (FTS) personnel on active duty orders serving pursuant to the authority of 10 USC 10211 or 10 USC 12310, including:
Army/Air Force "Active Guard and Reserve (AGR),"
Navy "Full-time Support (FTS),"