Protect Our Defenders News Blog

 

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns push for more changes to military sex assault protocol

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Amos Guiora, a University of Utah law professor, has been among those advocating to remove sexual assault cases from the chain of command. In a column for The New York Times earlier this year, Guiora wrote how when was a judge advocate general in the Israeli military, he had authority to order an indictment against a soldier. Commanders had no role.

Giving American officers a role in who gets prosecuted creates an inherent conflict of interest, Guiora argues. He also rejects arguments that the U.S. military is too far deployed to require judge advocate generals involvement, saying telephones and video calls mean JAGS can quickly be contacted to determine how to handle a circumstance.

“I think there’s a much larger question,” Guiora said in an interview Wednesday. “That is: Is justice served by having commanders make the justice decisions?”

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