President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a historic change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice by transferring key decision-making authorities outside the military chain of command in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder and other serious crimes.
President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a historic change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice by transferring key decision-making authorities outside the military chain of command in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder and other serious crimes.
Promotions are based on performance. After a few promotions, you have people that report to you. This means their performance is your performance. So the CoC properly handling rape allegations is against their own self interest.
There's a documentary called the invisible war that covers this topic in excruciating detail.
Maybe. But all the reversals are politically motivated so depends how much their base will get hard on reversing it. I'm sure there are other juicier targets for them to get through first. Unless it's Trump. Trump seems to be more interested in the appearance of money and power.
Can someone explain the change to me? I do not understand how it was done before, why that was bad, and how this is different and better. (Things I probably would have included in the article, had I written it)
Historically, these investigations have been handled by the higher-ups in the chain of command. Say one soldier raped another and the victim reported it. Their mutual boss and that boss's bosses would be responsible for any investigation and discipline.
They have the same negative incentive to provide thorough investigation and justice as college campus police do - because in the end it makes them look bad at their jobs and makes the institution that signs their paychecks look bad. So they just don't. Often victims are ignored or worse, disciplined themselves.
This change will provide a third party not involved in the chain of command for reporting and investigation of sexual assault allegations.
Adding to @[email protected] comment: The military has a peculiar concept for responsibility in command, such that a senior officer or even NCO could have thier career totally ruined for investigating a rape. Not for other crimes, mind you, but some arcane language held that they could be held culpable for not having prevented the attack. Biden has rather firmly corrected that error.
I gotta say, I had zero expectation of anything from Biden, but he has definitely delivered a few pretty good somethings, and this looks like another one. I hope they have a great day today wherever the Bidens are hanging out.
He said he didn’t “want to bore you with detail here,” but that basically,
“I know it may not sound like much,” Kirby said
The headline grabbed my support. This lines cooled my excitement. Thoughts from others? I feel like maybe the headline isn't as much of a grand slam when I see this kind of waffling.
Saying "key decision-making authorities" sounds like exactly that: key positions. Moving key existing positions out of conflict of interest.
To finish your quote:
He said he didn’t “want to bore you with detail here,” but that basically, “this change required a completely different shift in the way these crimes are investigated and prosecuted by taking them outside the chain of command, which already had existing protocols in place in existing judicial system.”
That really explains it, I don't know why you cut it off.
“I know it may not sound like much,” Kirby said, “but it’s a big change to the way the military did it.”
I think my brain panicked when I saw the start of that first sentence and went into scan mode. Good reminder to read to completion before voicing an opinion. Thanks!
That's the kind of vibe I get from most of the Biden administration's actions. They make for great lists of actions to show that they're doing something, but in practice how effective is it really?