分野別改正の要旨：即決裁判、軍法会議、是正の権利
即決裁判
即決裁判
1. Summary justice
The responsibility of commanding officers to dispense summary justice will remain a fundamental principle. As the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Don Touhig, has said:
"COs must be able to exercise discipline quickly and effectively in order to maintain a unit’s operational effectiveness."
The majority of disciplinary cases will be dealt with at that level. Currently, however, the range of offences that can be dealt with by COs and the extent of their sentencing powers vary between the forces.
There will be a reduction in power of Naval COs (although care has been taken to ensure that the operational effectiveness of the Navy will be unaffected).
Conversely, the range of offences and sentencing powers that may be dealt with by Army and Air Force COs will increase slightly. The result will be parity.
軍法会議
2. Court martial The Bill proposes to introduce procedural change to the court martial and will see the establishment of a joint-service prosecuting authority (PA). The PA will combine the existing single-service prosecuting authorities and will remain staffed by service lawyers whose role will not change fundamentally. Independent from the chain of command for prosecutorial decisions, the PA will remain responsible for determining whether a suspect should be prosecuted under service law and will direct that a court martial should take place. It will also, in most instances, be responsible for the prosecution of cases proceeding to court martial.
是正の権利
3. Right of redress Service personnel will retain the statutory right to seek the redress of a complaint on any matter relating to their service. The proposals on redress are aimed at more speedy resolution of complaints through efficient case management, cutting out duplication of effort and delegating powers from the Defence Council to a panel which is independent of the chain of command.
