§940a Art. 140a. Case management; data collection and accessibility

Summary

The Secretary of Defense, working with the Secretary of Homeland Security, must create uniform rules for how the military justice system (including the Coast Guard) handles certain tasks at every stage — pretrial, trial, post-trial, and appeals. The rules should use the best practices of federal and state courts when practical. They cover collecting and analyzing case and offense data to help manage cases and support periodic reviews under section 946 (article 146); case processing and management; timely and accurate production and sharing of trial records; and making docket information, filings, and records more available to the public with proper limits. Publicly available material must protect personal information about minors and crime victims (including sexual assault and domestic violence victims) as much as federal and state electronic filing systems do. Classified records, materials under a court protective order, or sealed documents cannot be made public. The rules must ensure general and special court-martial records are kept for at least 15 years, no matter the outcome.