§946a Art. 146a. Annual Reports

Summary

Not later than December 31 each year, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces must send a report about the previous fiscal year. The report must say how many cases were finished and how many are still pending, and may include any other information the Court thinks is useful about how this chapter works. Not later than December 31 each year, each Judge Advocate General and the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps must send a report about the preceding fiscal year. The report must cover pending and completed cases (including victim and accused demographics like race, ethnicity, rank, and sex; types of offenses charged and sent to court; court-martial types; and case results, including nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations). It must describe the appellate review process (timeliness, cases reversed for command influence or denial of speedy review, cases remitted for lost records or administrative problems, any holdings that a part of this chapter was unconstitutional, and any cases where a Court of Criminal Appeals found a verdict clearly against the weight of the evidence, with the appellate standard used). It must explain steps taken to make sure judge advocates can serve well as trial or defense counsel, military judges, and Special Victims’ Counsel (as designated under section 1044e), and identify measures focused on capital, national security, sexual assault, and military commission cases. Each report must include the independent view of the reporting officer on whether there are enough resources (workforce, funding, training, and officer/enlisted grades) to do military justice work, and may include other appropriate matters. Each report must be sent to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the military departments, and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating when it is not operating as a service in the Navy.