Sweeping Military Justice Reforms Get New Life in Annual Defense Bill – By Rebecca Kheel (Military.com) / June 17, 2022
Changes to the military justice system that got cut from last year’s defense policy bill have been revived in the version of this year’s bill making its way through the Senate now.
Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, overhauled the military justice system, creating the role of special trial counsel to make prosecutorial decisions on sex crimes and some other serious offenses instead of commanders.
While historic, the reforms were pared down from what advocates and some lawmakers had been pushing, including not moving as many crimes outside of the chain of command and leaving commanders with some roles in the court-martial process.
