MJ-011 · MILITARY JUSTICE
Court-Martial Types, Referral & Composition
MJ-011: Summary, special, and general courts-martial differ in jurisdiction, composition, procedure, and sentencing authority. Referral is the act that sends charges to a particular court-martial.
Start with the controlling authority
Working procedure
- Preserve the preferred charge sheet and every amendment.
- Identify the referral authority, referral date, type of court-martial, and any special trial counsel involvement.
- Preserve the convening order and amendments, judge detail, member-selection records where relevant, and forum elections.
- Identify whether judge-alone or members procedures apply and which composition rules govern.
- Track jurisdictional challenges and rulings separately from the merits.
Records to preserve
MREC-12 legal proceedings.
Version and service discipline
Military justice is version-sensitive. Match the offense date, procedural date, service, forum, and filing date to the governing statute, MCM/R.C.M./M.R.E. version, presidential amendments, service regulation, and court rules. The 2024 MCM must be checked against later operative amendments before treating it as complete current procedure.
