Executive Order 2498

Under authority of an Act of Congress approved September 27, 1890 (26 Stat. 491), as reenacted in article 45 of section 3 of an Act of Congress approved August 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 657), the following maximum limits, in time of peace, of punishment of soldiers are prescribed:

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 * rowspan="3" width="5%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-bottom-width: 1px"|Art&shy;icle of war.
 * rowspan="3" width="40%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width:0 1px 1px 1px"|Offenses.
 * colspan="6" style="border-bottom: solid 1px #333;"|Punishments.
 * -valign="center" align="center"
 * rowspan="2" width="10%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Dis&shy;honorable dis&shy;charge, forfeiture of all pay and allow&shy;ances due and to become due.
 * colspan="3" width="30%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0" |Confinement at hard labor.
 * width="10%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|For&shy;feiture of two-thirds pay per month.
 * width="10%" style="border-bottom: solid 1px #333"|For&shy;feiture of pay.
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 * width="10%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0" |Years.
 * width="10%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0" |Months.
 * width="10%" style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0" |Days.
 * style="border: solid 0 #333; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0" | Months.
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Subject to the limitations set forth elsewhere in this order, substitutions for punishments specified in Article I thereof are authorized at the discretion of the court, at the rates indicated in the following table of equivalents:

A court shall not, by a single sentence which does not include dishonorable discharge, adjudge against a soldier:


 * (a) Forfeiture of pay at a rate greater than two-thirds of his pay per month.
 * (b) Forfeiture of pay in an amount greater than two·thirds of his pay for six months.
 * (c) Confinement at hard labor for a period greater than six months.

A court shall not, by a single sentence, adjudge against a soldier:


 * (a) Detention of pay at a rate greater than two-thirds of his pay per month.
 * (b) Detention of pay in an amount greater than two·thirds of his pay for three months.
 * (c) Hard labor without confinement for a period greater than three months.

A court shall not, unless they in the same sentence adjudge reduction to the ranks, adjudge against a noncommissioned officer confinement at hard labor, nor hard labor without confinement.

A court may, upon his conviction of an offense or offenses for which they may adjudge confinement at hard labor for a period of five or more days, authorized substitution considered, adjudge, in addition to the punishments otherwise authorized, reduction against a noncommissioned officer or against a private, first class.

A general or special court shall, upon conviction of a soldier, be opened and shall thereupon ascertain whether there is evidence of a previous conviction or convictions, which has been referred to the court by the convening authority, and, if there be such evidence, shall receive it.

A court may, under the authority contained in section 1 of this article, receive evidence only of convictions by court-martial of an offense or offenses committed by the accused during his current enlistment and within one year next preceding the commission by him of an offense of which he stands convicted before the court. These convictions may be proved only by the records of the trials in which they were had, or by duly authenticated copies of such records, or by duly authenticated copies of orders promulgating such trials and convictions.

A court may, upon his conviction of an offense or offenses for none of which dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of aIl pay and allowances due and to become due is, in Article I of this order or by the custom of the service, authorized, upon proof of five or more previous convictions, adjudge against a soldier, in addition to the confinement at hard labor without substitution authorized in said article or by the custom of the service for the offense or offenses of which he is convicted, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances due and to become due, and, in any such case in which such confinement so authorized is less than three months, a court may adjudge, in addition to such discharge and forfeiture, confinement at hard labor for three months.

A court may, upon his conviction upon one arraignment of two or more offenses for none of which dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor and forfeiture of all pay and allowances due and to become due is, in Article I of this order or by the custom of the service, authorized, but the aggregate term of confinement at hard labor for which, as authorized in said article or by the custom of the service, without substitution, equals or exceeds six months, adjudge against a soldier, in addition to the confinement at hard labor, without substitution, authorized in said article or by the custom of the service for the offense or offenses of which he is convicted, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances due and to become due.

This order prescribes the maximum limit of punishment for each of the offenses therein specified, and thus indicates an appropriate punishment for an offense which is attended by aggravating circumstances, or after conviction of which there is received by the court evidence of several previous convictions. In other cases the punishment will be graded down according to the circumstances thereof.

Offenses not herein provided for remain punishable as authorized by statute or the custom of the service, but, in cases for which maximum punishments are not prescribed, courts will be guided by limits of punishment prescribed for closely related offenses.

Hard labor without confinement, when imposed as a punishment, shall be performed in addition to other duties which fall to the soldier, and no soldier shall be excused or relieved from any military duty for the purpose of performing hard labor without confinement which has been imposed as a punishment, but a sentence imposing such punishment shall be considered as satisfied when the soldier shall have performed hard labor during available time in addition to performing his military duties.

Pay detained pursuant to the sentence of a court-martial will be detained by the Government until the soldier is furloughed to the reserve, discharged from the service, or mustered out of active Federal service.

This order shall become operative on March 1, 1917, as to offenses committed on and lifter that date and as to criminal acts, committed prior to that date, whose maximum punishment was not prescribed in the Executive order of September 5, 1914. The Executive order of September 5, 1914, published in General Orders, No. 70, War Department, 1914, prescribing limits of punishment, shall remain operative as to offenses committed before March 1, 1917, except as to criminal acts whose maximum punishment has been decreased by this order, which will not be followed by severer punishment than is hereinbefore prescribed.

, December 15, 1916.