Thursday, October 5, 2017

General/Flag Officers on General Court Martial.

The following statistics obtained under the freedom of information legislation provide, for calendar years 2012-2017 (to date) the number of Generals and Flag officers who were randomly selected for possible appointment to a  General Court Martial panel, the number of these officers who were excused pursuant to article 111.03(4) of the Queens’ Regulations and Orders, and the number of these officers who actually served on a General Court Martial.

CANADA
GENERAL COURT MARTIAL
SELECTION OF PANEL MEMBERS
General and Flag Officers

Year
Selected to serve
Excused duty
Appointed as members
Number who served  
2012
0
0
0
0
2013
9
7
0
0
2014
28
19
1
1
2015
21
17
1
0
2016
27
10
0
0
2017
33
23
1
0
Total    
118
76
3
1

Article 111.03(4) of the QR&Os authorizes the Court Martial Administrator to “excuse” a person selected for ‘jury’ duty on a General Court Martial if the said person will be required, during the period the court martial is expected to take place, to attend a career course (ATL) or perform duties sufficiently urgent and important to warrant his or her not being appointed. Other reasons that might also be relied upon to excuse a member to serve on a court martial panel includes: the member has already served on a general court martial panel the preceding 24 months, the member is ill or injured, or other compassionate reasons.

1 comment:

  1. It is hard not to conclude that flag and general officers enjoy something close to a de facto exemption.

    Rank exclusions are theoretically improper in the U.S. armed forces, but the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has repeatedly found a lack of prejudice.

    ReplyDelete

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