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Military Jury
A United States military "jury" (or "members", in military parlance) serves a function similar to an American civilian jury, but with several notable differences. Only a general court-martial (which may impose any sentences, from dishonorable discharge to death) or special court-martial (which can impose sentences of up to one year of confinement and bad-conduct discharge) includes members. There are no members in a trial by summary court-martial (which can impose sentences of up to 30 days of confinement). If the defendant at a general or special court-martial chooses to be tried by members rather than by a military judge alone, the members are responsible for rendering both a verdict and sentence should the accused be found guilty. The charges are brought forward by an officer called a "convening authority", who also selects the members who try the accused. The charges are prosecuted by judge advocates called "trial counsel". Defendants facing general or special courts-mart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Parlance
Military parlance is the vernacular used within the military and embraces all aspects of service life; it can be described as both a "code" and a "Classified Information, classification" of something. Like many close and closed communities, the language used can often be full of jargon and not readily intelligible to outsiders—sometimes this is for military operational or security reasons; other times it is because of the natural evolution of the day-to-day language used in the various units. For example: "Captain, this situation is 'Scale A'", "Scale A" being an army's parlance for "This situation requires the closest of attention and resources and all members of relevance should be present." The military has developed its own slang, partly as means of self-identification. This slang is also used to reinforce the (usually friendly) interservice rivalries. Some terms are derogatory to varying degrees and many service personnel take some pleasure in the sense of shared hardships w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgment (law), judgment. Juries developed in England during the Middle Ages and are a hallmark of the English common law system. As such, they are used by the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and other countries whose legal systems were derived from the British Empire. But most other countries use variations of the European Civil law (legal system), civil law or Islamic sharia, sharia law systems, in which juries are not generally used. Most trial juries are "petit juries", and usually consist of twelve people. Historically, a larger jury known as a grand jury was used to investigate potential crimes and render indictments against suspects. All common law countries except the United States and Liberia hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courts-martial In The United States
Courts-martial of the United States are trials conducted by the U.S. military or by state militaries. Most commonly, courts-martial are convened to try members of the U.S. military for criminal violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which is the U.S. military's criminal code. However, they can also be convened for other purposes, including military tribunals and the enforcement of martial law in an occupied territory. Federal courts-martial are governed by the rules of procedure and evidence laid out in the Manual for Courts-Martial, which contains the Rules for Courts-Martial, Military Rules of Evidence, and other guidance. State courts-martial are governed according to the laws of the state concerned. The American Bar Association has issued a Model State Code of Military Justice, which has influenced the relevant laws and procedures in some states. Courts-martial are adversarial proceedings, as are all United States criminal courts. That is, lawyers r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dishonorable Discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and then fully and satisfactorily completed their term of service. Other types of discharge are based on factors such as the quality of their service, whether their service had to be ended prematurely due to humanitarian or medical reasons, whether they had been found to have drug or alcohol dependency issues and whether they were complying with treatment and counseling, and whether they had demerits or punishments for infractions or were convicted of any crimes. These factors affect whether they will be asked or allowed to re-enlist and whether they qualify for benefits after their discharge. United Kingdom There are several reasons why someone may be discharged from the military, including expiration of enlistment, disability, dependency and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bench Trial
A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a trial by jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems (Roman, Islamic) use bench trials for most or all cases or for certain types of cases. While a jury renders a verdict, a judge in a bench trial does the same by making a finding. United Kingdom England and Wales The majority of civil trials proceed without a jury and are heard by a judge sitting alone. Summary criminal trials may be heard by a single district judge (magistrates' court) or by a panel of at least two, but more usually three, magistrates. Section 47 Criminal Justice Act 2003 does allow a bench trial for indictable offences, but is rarely used, having been exercised only two times since its inception. Scotland Most civil trials in Scotland are conducted in a sheriff court by a sheriff sitting alone. In the Court of Session, a judge in either ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convening Authority
The term convening authority is used in United States military law to refer to an individual with certain legal powers granted under either the Uniform Code of Military Justice (i.e. the regular military justice system) or the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (for the Guantanamo military commissions). Uniform Code of Military Justice The term "convening authority" is used in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) when referring to an individual whose function is of critical importance in the US military justice system. The persons who may exercise this authority are defined in article 22 () for general court-martial, article 23 () for special court-martial, and article 24 () for summary court-martial. The convening authority decides on the disposition of cases to investigation and trial, and also selects the members of a court-martial. The appointees serve as the military judge and members of the "panel", which decides the guilt or innocence of a person standing trial before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judge Advocate
Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions. Australia The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that provide specific legal advice to commanders and general legal advice to all ranks. They must be admitted to practice as Australian Legal Practitioners. Canada The Office of the Judge Advocate General for the Canadian Forces provides legal advice to commanders at bases and wings, provides lawyers who defend accused persons at courts martial, teaches courses to other CF members or advises a commanding officer in an operational theatre to uphold the ethical and legal principles established by both the Canadian Forces and the Government of Canada. The current JAG of the Canadian Forces is Rear-Admiral G. Bernatchez. Denmark The Military Prosecution Service or Judge Advocate General's Corps (, short FAUK) is a Danish independent military prosec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death Penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender is to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is ''condemned'' and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Crimes that are punishable by death are known as ''capital crimes'', ''capital offences'', or ''capital felonies'', and vary depending on the jurisdiction, but commonly include serious crimes against the person, such as murder, mass murder, aggravated cases of rape (often including child sexual abuse), terrorism, aircraft hijacking, war crimes, crimes against hum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandatory Sentence
Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are instituted to expedite the sentencing process and limit the possibility of irregularity of outcomes due to judicial discretion. Mandatory sentences are typically given to people who are convicted of certain serious and/or violent crimes, and require a prison sentence. Mandatory sentencing laws vary across nations; they are more prevalent in common law jurisdictions because civil law jurisdictions usually prescribe minimum and maximum sentences for every type of crime in explicit laws. Mandatory sentencing laws often target "moral vices" (such as alcohol, sex, drugs) and crimes that threaten a person's livelihood. The idea is that there are some crimes that are so heinous, there is no way to accept the offender back into the general population ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Officer (armed Forces)
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextual qualification, the term typically refers only to a force's ''commissioned officers'', the more senior members who derive their authority from a commission from the head of state. Numbers The proportion of officers varies greatly. Commissioned officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel. In 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13.7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, and about 17.2% of the United States armed forces. Historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers (partly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warrant Officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the most senior of the non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, or in a separate category of their own. Warrant officer ranks are especially prominent in the militaries of Commonwealth nations and the United States. The name of the rank originated in medieval England. It was first used during the 13th century, in the Royal Navy, where Warrant Officers achieved the designation by virtue of their accrued experience or seniority, and technically held the rank by a warrant—rather than by a formal commission (as in the case of a commissioned officer). Nevertheless, WOs in the British services have traditionally been considered and treated as distinct from non-commissioned officers, as such (even though neither group has, technically, held a commiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hung Jury
A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. This situation can occur only in common law legal systems, because civil law systems either do not use juries at all or provide that the defendant is immediately acquitted if the majority or supermajority required for conviction is not reached during a single, solemn vote. Australia Majority (or supermajority verdicts) are in force in South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Australian Capital Territory and Commonwealth courts require unanimous verdicts in criminal (but not civil) trials. Canada In Canada, the jury must reach a unanimous decision on criminal cases. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, a hung jury is declared. A new panel of jurors will b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
