Equal Justice Under Military Law Act
This bill modifies various provisions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including to establish an independent convening authority for general and special courts-martial for certain offenses (e.g., murder or manslaughter).
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7445 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7445
To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to establish an
independent convening authority for certain offenses, randomize jury
selection, and improve reporting on racial and ethnic demographics, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 7, 2022
Mr. Brown of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to establish an
independent convening authority for certain offenses, randomize jury
selection, and improve reporting on racial and ethnic demographics, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This act may be cited as the ``Equal Justice Under Military Law
Act''.
SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO COVERED OFFENSES UNDER UNIFORM CODE OF
MILITARY JUSTICE.
(a) In General.--Section 801(17)(A) of title 10, United States Code
(article 1(17)(A) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), as amended
by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81), is amended--
(1) by inserting ``, section 921 (article 121), section
921a (article 121a), section 922 (article 122)'' after
``(article 120c)''; and
(2) by inserting ``, section 926 (article 126), section
928(b) (article 128(b)), section 928(c) (article 128(c))''
after ``(article 125)''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect immediately after the coming into effect of the amendments
made by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81) as provided in section 539C of
that Act.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT CONVENING AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN
OFFENSES.
(a) General Courts-Martial.--Section 822 of title 10, United States
Code (article 22 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``General courts-martial
may be convened by'' and inserting ``Subject to subsection (c),
general courts-martial may be convened by''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) A general court-martial involving a covered offense may be
convened only by the independent convening authority designated by the
President pursuant to section 3(d) of the Equal Justice Under Military
Law Act.''.
(b) Special Courts-Martial.--Section 823 of title 10, United States
Code (article 23 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``Special courts-martial
may be convened by'' and inserting ``Subject to subsection (c),
special courts-martial may be convened by''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) A special court-martial involving a covered offense may be
convened only by the independent convening authority designated by the
President pursuant to section 3(d) of the Equal Justice Under Military
Law Act.''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b)
shall take effect immediately after the coming into effect of the
amendments made by part 1 of title V of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81) as provided
in section 539C of that Act.
(d) Designation of Independent Authority.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the effective date
specified in subsection (c), the President shall designate an
independent convening authority who shall have exclusive
authority for convening general and special courts-martial
involving covered offenses in accordance with sections 822(c)
and 823(c) of title 10, United States Code (articles 22(c) and
23(c) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), as added by
subsection (a). An independent convening authority designated
under this subsection shall be an individual who is independent
of the military chains of command of both the victims and those
accused of covered offenses, and may include a special trial
counsel.
(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) The term ``covered offense'' has the meaning
given that term in section 801(17) of title 10, United
States Code (article 1(17) of the Uniform Code of
Military Justice), as added by section 533 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
(Public Law 117-81) and further amended by section 2 of
this Act.
(B) The term ``special trial counsel'' has the
meaning given that term in section 801(18) of title 10,
United States Code (article 1(18) of the Uniform Code
of Military Justice), as added by section 533 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
(Public Law 117-81).
(e) Conforming Amendment.--Title V of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81) is amended
by striking section 534.
SEC. 4. SELECTION PROCESS FOR MEMBERS TO SERVE ON COURTS-MARTIAL.
Section 825(e) of title 10, United States Code (article 25(e) of
the Uniform Code of Military Justice), is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as
paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively;
(2) by inserting after the subsection enumerator the
following new paragraphs: ``(1) When convening a court-martial,
the convening authority shall detail as members thereof members
of the armed forces under such regulations as the President may
prescribe for the randomized selection of qualified personnel
available to the convening authority for detail.
``(2) The randomized selection process developed and implemented
under paragraph (1) may include parameter controls that--
``(A) allow for exclusions based on availability;
``(B) allow for controls based on military rank; and
``(C) allow for controls based on equitable representation
on the basis of race, sex, and ethnicity.''; and
(3) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated--
(A) by striking the first sentence; and
(B) by striking ``when he is'' and inserting ``when
the member is''.
SEC. 5. MODIFICATIONS TO ANNUAL REPORTS ON RACIAL AND ETHNIC
DEMOGRAPHICS IN THE MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM.
Section 486 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
inserting ``and other information'' after
``statistics'';
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(C) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at the
end and inserting a semicolon; and
(D) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
``(9) an estimate, based on survey data from the Armed
Forces Workplace and Equal Opportunity Surveys, of the number
of offenses committed by members of the armed force,
disaggregated by--
``(A) statistical category as related to the
victim; and
``(B) statistical category as related to the
principal;
``(10) an analysis of any disparities among race, sex, and
ethnicity in the incidence, reporting, disposition, and
prosecution of offenses by units, commands, and installations
during the year covered by the report, including trends
relating to--
``(A) the prosecution of offenses; and
``(B) the prevalence of offenses, set forth
separately for--
``(i) each installation with 5,000 or more
servicemembers;
``(ii) the major career fields of any
individuals involved in such incidents,
including the fields of combat arms, aviation,
logistics, maintenance, administration, and
medical; and
``(iii) in the case of the Navy, the
operational status (whether sea duty or shore
duty) of any individuals involved in such
incidents; and
``(11) the policies, procedures, and processes implemented
by the Secretary concerned during the year covered by the
report in response to any race, sex, or ethnicity disparities
involving members of the armed force concerned.''; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
subsection:
``(d) Publication.--The Secretary of Defense shall--
``(1) publish on an appropriate publicly available website
of the Department of Defense the reports required by subsection
(a); and
``(2) ensure that any data included with each such report
is made available in a machine-readable format that is
downloadable, searchable, and sortable.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
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