§ Article 102 : Forcing a Safeguard

Article 102 of the UCMJ (10 U.S.C. § 902) punishes forcing a safeguard — violating the protection that a commander has placed over enemy or neutral persons, places, or property.

Who It Applies To

Any person subject to the UCMJ who forces a safeguard.

What It Covers

1. A safeguard had been issued or posted for the protection of a certain person or persons, place, or property.
2. The accused knew or should have known of the safeguard.
3. The accused forced the safeguard.

Key rules

• A safeguard is a detachment, guard, or detail posted by a commander to protect persons, places, or property of the enemy, or of a neutral affected by the relationship of belligerent forces. It also includes a written order left by a commander with an enemy subject, or posted on enemy property, for its protection.
• A safeguard is not a measure a force uses to protect its own property or nationals or to keep order within its own ranks. Posting guards or off-limits signs does not create a safeguard unless a commander does so to protect enemy or neutral persons or property.
• Forcing a safeguard means doing any act in violation of its protection. Any trespass on that protection is an offense, whether the safeguard was imposed in time of war or in circumstances amounting to a state of belligerency short of a formal war.
• Actual knowledge of the safeguard is not required; it is enough that the accused should have known of it.

Maximum Punishment

Maximum authorized punishment. Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

Sentencing parameters. Article 102 is a sentencing-criteria offense (no numbered category). Sentencing parameters and criteria do not apply to the decision whether to impose death.

The newer sentencing rules apply, subject to the capital-case rules, when the accused is convicted only of offenses committed after 27 December 2023. See How UCMJ Sentencing Rules Apply. The maximum authorized punishment and the applicable sentencing framework do not predict the sentence in a particular case.

Related and Distinguished

A safeguard is a specific protection established by a commander. Looting or pillaging under Article 108a does not require that a safeguard exist, and quitting a place of duty to plunder or pillage before the enemy is addressed by Article 99.

What the Provision Does

Under the Manual, the effect of a safeguard is to pledge the honor of the nation that the protected person or property will be respected by the national armed forces. Article 102 makes any act in violation of that protection an offense, whether the safeguard was imposed in time of war or in circumstances amounting to a state of belligerency short of a formal war, and it is enough that the accused should have known of the safeguard.

History

Article 102 appeared in the original 1950 Uniform Code of Military Justice and was codified at 10 U.S.C. § 902 in 1956. Its text has not been amended since.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 902 (Article 102, UCMJ)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 2024 edition, Part IV, ¶ 30
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12B and Appendix 12C
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12D