Should the Military Less-Than-Unanimous Verdict of Guilt Be Retained?

Despite praise for the Uniform Code of Military Justice as being more advanced than many thoroughly modern criminal codes, one criticism still remains: except for cases that require a mandatory death sentence, a unanimous guilty verdict is not required. To date, no extensive criticism of the arrangement has been published even though, as Justice Douglas understated it, such an arrangement is “less favorable to defendants.” Here, Professor Larkin takes up the burden of critiquing this arrangement, first providing the history and constitutionality of the decision, its place in due process, arguments for and against the arrangement, and finally arriving at an opinion against it.