{"id":62505,"date":"2018-09-10T19:52:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T19:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/10\/ucmj-crackdown-why-mattis-thinks-commanders-have-gone-soft-on-misconduct\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:32:17","slug":"ucmj-crackdown-why-mattis-thinks-commanders-have-gone-soft-on-misconduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/09\/10\/ucmj-crackdown-why-mattis-thinks-commanders-have-gone-soft-on-misconduct\/","title":{"rendered":"UCMJ crackdown: Why Mattis thinks commanders have gone soft on misconduct"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of courts-martial and other severe punishments<\/a> meted out to misbehaving troops across the military has steadily declined in recent years, raising concerns at the Pentagon\u2019s highest levels that some commanders have gone soft on traditional military discipline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total of general, special and summary court-martial cases handled by the Army, Navy, Air Force<\/a> and Marines has plummeted by nearly 70 percent during the past decade \u2014 down from 6,377 in 2007 to 1,980 in 2017, according to a Military Times analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Times found that less severe non-judicial punishment<\/a> cases also tumbled \u2014 down nearly 40 percent over the same span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dive in Uniform Code of Military Justice<\/a> enforcement far outpaced the drawdown in overall active-duty troops. Combined end strength of the four services dropped by 14 percent since 2007 to roughly 1.3 million in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many military experts believe a primary cause for the falling UCMJ<\/a> numbers stems from commanders\u2019 decisions to opt against courts-martial proceedings or NJPs and instead lean on administrative discipline, which often results in the accused service member getting kicked out of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administrative discipline tends to be bureaucratically easier and less time-consuming than traditional UCMJ measures to punish misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may explain the highly unusual Aug. 13 memo that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis fired off, when he voiced concerns that today\u2019s military commanders may be jeopardizing the force\u2019s long-term good order and discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeaders must be willing to choose the harder right over the easier wrong,\u201d Mattis wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdministrative actions should not be the default method to address illicit conduct simply because it is less burdensome than the military justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retired four-star Marine general cautioned commanders to never be \u201cso risk-adverse that they lose their focus on forging disciplined troops ready to ferociously and ethically defeat our enemies in the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pentagon officials declined further comment on the Mattis memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt speaks for itself,\u201d Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael wrote in an email to Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is general guidance to the Department on the need for discipline within the ranks and is not intended in any way to suggest the outcome of any case or for all cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither the Pentagon nor service leaders would speculate about what caused the decade-long drop in disciplinary actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But civilian attorneys who specialize in military criminal justice suggested a wide range of reasons for the decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with a hike in administrative separations, they also suspect the drop might reflect an institutional focus on prosecuting time-consuming sexual assault cases or even a military force that\u2019s less prone to committing crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\t