A timely, provocative account of how military justice has shaped American society since the nation’s beginnings. Historian and former soldier Chris Bray tells the sweeping story of military justice from the earliest days of the republic to contemporary arguments over using military courts to try foreign terrorists or soldiers accused of sexual assault. Stretching from the American Revolution to 9/11, Court-Martial recounts the stories of famous American court-martials, including those involving President Andrew Jackson, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, and Private Eddie Slovik. Bray explores how encounters of freed slaves with the military justice system during the Civil War anticipated the civil rights movement, and he explains how the Uniform Code of Military Justice came about after World War II. With a great eye for narrative, Bray hones in on the human elements of these stories, from Revolutionary-era militiamen demanding the right to participate in political speech as citizens, to black soldiers risking their lives during the Civil War to demand fair pay, to the struggles over the court-martial of Lieutenant William Calley and the events of My Lai during the Vietnam War. Throughout, Bray presents readers with these unvarnished voices and his own perceptive commentary. Military justice may be separate from civilian justice, but it is thoroughly entwined with American society. As Bray reminds us, the history of American military justice is inextricably the history of America, and Court-Martial powerfully documents the many ways that the separate justice system of the armed forces has served as a proxy for America’s ongoing arguments over equality, privacy, discrimination, security, and liberty.

This book presents an accessible and honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of military justice around the world, with particular emphasis on the US, UK, and Canada.

Military justice is changing rapidly due to both domestic and international influences. This book explains what is happening and why.

"The interaction between military and civilian courts, the political power that legal prerogatives can provide to the armed forces, and the difficult process civilian politicians face in reforming military courts remain glaringly under-examined. This book fills a gap in existing scholarship by providing a theoretically rich, global examination of the operation and reform of military courts in democracies. Drawing on a newly-created global dataset, it examines trends across states and over time. Combined with deeper qualitative case studies, the book presents clear and well-justified findings that will be of interest to scholars and policymakers working in a variety of fields"--

Public, press, and academic interest in the military justice system has increased over the past generation. This is a result of several high-profile trials (the Sergeant Major of the Army and Kelly Flinn, among many others), a popular TV show (even if it was Navy JAGs), and broader public attention to and interest in the military, stemming from the post-Cold War prominence of the military (Gulf War I, Balkans, and post-9/11 operations). In addition, some of the more prominent cases from the war in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib and detainee cases, as well as the GTMO military commissions, have kept military justice in the news. There are many misconceptions about the rudiments of the military justice system. Many perceive severity where there is none (though there are features that differ from the civilian system, sometimes unfavorably for the accused), and few are aware of its unique protections and features. Senators Lott and McConnell were not unique in the inaccurate perceptions they publicly stated about military justice during hearings on military tribunals. This volume would accomplish two main purposes: (1) provide comprehensive, accurate, and current information about the military justice system and related disciplinary features, written in laymen's language; and (2) explain the system through some illustrative or engaging anecdotes (e.g., the trials of Billy Mitchell, William Calley, and the World War II Nazi saboteurs, whose capture and trial provide the basis for today's Guantanamo-based trials of suspected terrorists).

While military law is often narrowly understood and studied as the specific and specialist laws, processes and institutions governing service personnel, this accessible book takes a broader approach, examining military justice from a wider consideration of the rights and duties of government and soldiers engaged in military operations.

This document is comprised of two letters. The first is from Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, dated March 1, 1919 and addressed to Major General Enoch H. Crowder, Judge Advocate General. In his letter, Secretary Baker expresses concern over recent harsh criticisms of the U.S. system of military justice and requests that General Crowder answer these criticisms by providing "a concise survey of the entire field" so as to restore the confidence of all those concerned. General Crowder's reply, dated March 10, 1919, follows. After introductory remarks on "prior efforts to revise the Articles of War" and the extent of his own "personal responsibility for the administration of military justice" during the previous two years, General Crowder presents detailed information on three individual cases, addresses at length the general defects that allegedly exist in military justice, and concludes with recommendations.