S. 1789 · 116th Congress
Military Justice Improvement Act of 2019
- Stage
- In committee
- Sponsor
- Kirsten Gillibrand
- Introduced
- 2019-06-11
- Latest action
- 2019-06-11 · Introduced in Senate
Summary
Military Justice Improvement Act of 2019
This bill modifies the process for convening courts-martial for sexual assault cases and certain other offenses.
For example, the bill authorizes independent military prosecutors to decide whether to convene courts-martial for (1) sexual assault cases and other specified crimes punishable by confinement of more than one year; and (2) other specified offenses, such as retaliation for reporting a crime, regardless of the maximum punishment authorized for the offenses. Under current law, the military's chain of command generally has sole decisionmaking authority as to whether to prosecute such cases.