Rules for Courts

The Joint Service Committee on Military Law is governed by DoDDir 5500.17, (PDF) and an SOP (PDF). The JSC consists of the Voting Group, Working Group, and Advisors. The Voting Group includes one senior judge advocatefrom each of the Services. The JSC advisors represent the Office of General Counsel, the CAAF, and the Chairman of the JCS.

They have recently updated their site with helpful references to recent changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial. Here is a link to the MCM 2012 and a Supplement. You will note to the side recent updates and their date of implementation. Check there for current Rules.

Some recent changes:

• Appendix 2 - UCMJ Updated updated by FY15 NDAA.
• Part II - Rules for Courts-Martial June 2015.
• Part III - Military Rules of Evidence June 2015.
• Part IV - Art. 81-Conspiracy June 2015.
• Part IV - Arts. 92-Orders Violations/93-Maltreatment and Cruelty June 2015.
• Part IV - Arts. 120-120c--Sex Related Crimes June 2015.
• Part IV - Art. 131-Perjury June 2015.
• Part IV - Art. 134 Obst. of Just. & Wrongful Interf. June 2015.

• Air Force (updated September 2015).
• Army
• Coast Guard.
• Navy-Marine Corps.

The Coast Guard has a useful set of flow charts on how a court-martial case develops. Keep in mind potential steps specific to the Coast Guard and not found in the other Services--but still a useful outline.