Child sexual abuse and other sexual offenses

Task & Purpose has looked into sexual offenses by members of the Marine Corps that involve children. From this report:

A significant portion of court-martial proceedings for Marine Corps personnel since the start of 2017 have included charges involving the sexual abuse of children, according to Department of Defense data reviewed by Task & Purpose, further detailing the growing scourge of child sexual abuse that’s marred the armed forces in recent years.

According to general and special court-martial disposition overviews of judicial proceedings published by Headquarters Marine Corps each month since January, nearly 18% of cases involved sexual assault or abuse of a child, attempted sexual assault or abuse or a child, or the possession, solicitation, distribution or production of child pornography.

The Task & Purpose data focus on trials and in only one of the armed forces. How many cases, involving what kinds of events, make it through the military justice appellate process? As the October 2016 Term draws to a close, it is clear that a remarkable percentage of the work of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces involves sexual misconduct of one kind or another. As of reveille today, the court had issued 30 decisions on full opinion. Only six had nothing to do with sex (involving things like drug abuse and larceny instead). If you count one case that involved child pornography and another of sexual harassment, all of the remaining 24 involved sex offenses (12 Army, 8 Air Force, 2 Coast Guard, and one each from the Navy and Marine Corps). In five of those 24 cases, there was a child victim. Three of those five were Army cases; the other two were from the Air Force.

Army JAG school in the news

UVA Today has a worthwhile article on the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, located in Charlottesville, VA.

"For recent law school graduates who are joining the Army JAG Corps, it’s the first stop after their Direct Commissioning Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. They receive special training in military justice through the JAG School’s Officers Basic Course before they are sent to their first posts. 

"The largest group of students consists of JAG officers with eight to 10 years of experience who are returning to the school to earn their Master of Laws degree. Of all the military JAG schools, the Army’s is the only one accredited by the American Bar Association to offer this degree. 

"Finally, there is a small group of long-time officers who return to the JAG School to receive certification to become judges."

Speedy military justice in Afghanistan

In April, the Afghan National Army base at Mazar-e-Sharif was overrun by Taliban insurgents, leading to the deaths of 125 soldiers; another 64 were wounded. Military justice proceedings ensued against 26 officers, including two generals. Sentences ranged from one to three years in prison. Details here, in Spanish.

That's one speedy trial.

Revolt of the judges

South Korean judges keep acquitting conscientious objectors, despite the country's Constitutional Court's refusal so far to recognize conscientious objection. Here's the latest Korea Times report. Excerpt:

A local court ruled in favor of three conscientious objectors who refused to serve in the Korean military, Thursday, bringing the number of people acquitted to 30. Amnesty International and human rights activists welcomed the verdict, calling it significant progress. They also expect alternative service to become available under the Moon Jae-in administration, one of Moon's pledges during his presidential campaign. 

A district court in Daegu ruled Thursday that "conscientious objection is just" as denying this would be a "violation of conscientiousness," a right protected by the Constitution. 

This goes against conventional upper court and Constitutional Court rulings that have put 190,000 men in prison since the 1950-53 Korean War. About 500 to 600 men are imprisoned per year on average for refusing to serve their around two-year compulsory military duties as mandated by the Military Service Act. At least 397 objectors were imprisoned as of the end of April, according to an Amnesty International report. 

Amnesty International Korea welcomed the news. "Since 2015, a surge of lower court rulings has found conscientious objectors not guilty. It's a significant trend," its representative Park Seung-ho said.

Where should this case be tried?

Fami Falana SAN

This just in from Nigeria:

Mr [Femi] Falana told Channels TV’s judiciary correspondent that the case of Retired Col. Sambo Dasuki ought not to have been trialled [sic] in a regular court but a military court marshal [sic], especially because the case itself has to do with procurement of arms to fight terrorist. 

According to him, “Any legal basis in taking a serving and Retired Military Officer to a regular court, if I have my way they will have the arraign before court’s marshal [sic, sic], a special court marshal [sic] because the allegations relate to a counter-insurgency operation in the northeast region. 

“Secondly, the government should have taken the advantage of the harmonisation of criminal justice act to ensure that corruption cases are conducted almost day by day and to do that you have to appoint more judges, you have to equip those courts and make the conditions of the judges favourable.”

Now why would a retired officer want to be tried by a court-martial? Don't answer all at once.