More data from the FY14 Code Committee Annual Report

Further review of the recently-released 2014 report of the Code Committee on Military Justice yields some additional interesting data.

During the year, the armed forces collectively conducted 1130 summary courts-martial, as opposed to administering nonjudicial punishment 50,951 times. The rates of NJP per 1000 members varied considerably: the Army rate was 62.14; the combined Navy-Marine Corps rate was 26; the Air Force rate was 16.23; and the Coast Guard rate was 17.4.

Acquittal rates were equally interesting. The Army did not report its summary court-martial acquittal rate because it does not track those data, unlike the other services. (So much for uniformity.) The Navy summary court acquittal rate was 2.3%; the Marine Corps summary court acquittal rate was 0.59%; the Air Force summary court acquittal rate was 4.2%; and the Coast Guard registered zero acquittals at its 30 summary courts.

In contrast, for general courts-martial the Army experienced an acquittal rate of 11%; the Navy experienced an acquittal rate of 26%; both the Marine Corps and the Air Force experienced acquittal rates of 24%; and the Coast Guard experienced an acquittal rate of only 4% (for 23 cases). Quaere whether these acquittal rates reflect more aggressive prosecution of sex offenses.

The Army's statistics did not provide the number of Article 138, UCMJ, complaints filed during the year. The other services reported a total of 94 such complaints. No data were provided as to the grant or denial of relief.