Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Data and debate

If the military justice system is to remain effective and indeed serve as an exemplar of military discipline and justice, it is important that change come from an understanding of the theory and purpose behind the law as well as its history. An understanding of theory and purpose is all the more important because the executive branch does not keep consistent, accessible, and therefore meaningful statistics on the operation of the military justice system. This increases the risk that anecdote rather than empirical evidence will drive debate. . . .

Chief Judge James E. Baker, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
Foreword to  Francis A. Gilligan & Fredric I. Lederer,
Court-Martial Procedure (LexisNexis 4th ed. 2015)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).