§ Article 82 : Solicitation

Article 82 of the UCMJ (10 U.S.C. § 882) punishes soliciting or advising another person to commit a UCMJ offense. Unlike conspiracy, it does not require the other person to agree or act — asking is enough. Certain solicited offenses — desertion, mutiny, sedition, and misbehavior before the enemy — carry their own specific treatment.

Who It Applies To

Any person subject to the UCMJ who solicits or advises another person to commit an offense under the UCMJ, with the intent that the offense actually be committed. Article 82 separately addresses soliciting espionage, and soliciting desertion, mutiny or sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy.

What It Covers

1. The accused solicited or advised a certain person or persons to commit a certain offense under the UCMJ.
2. The accused did so with the intent that the offense actually be committed.
3. Where the offense solicited or advised was committed or attempted: the offense was committed or attempted as the proximate result of the solicitation.

The offense is complete when the request or advice is made with the required intent; the person solicited need not agree or act. Solicitation can be made by conduct as well as by words, and through other people. Where an act of solicitation is itself a separate offense — the Manual’s examples are pandering and obstructing justice — the Manual directs that it be charged as that separate offense.

Maximum Punishment

Maximum authorized punishment.

• Soliciting espionage: any punishment a court-martial may direct, other than death.
• Soliciting desertion, mutiny or sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy: if the solicited offense was committed or attempted, the punishment authorized for that offense; if not, dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 15 years, or the maximum punishment for the underlying offense, whichever is less.
• Soliciting any other offense: dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 10 years, or the maximum punishment for the underlying offense, whichever is less.

Sentencing parameters.

• Soliciting espionage: Category 4 (120–240 months).
• Soliciting desertion, mutiny or sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy, where the offense was committed or attempted: dependent on the underlying offense.
• Soliciting desertion in time of war, not committed or attempted: a sentencing-criteria offense (no numbered category).
• Soliciting desertion, not committed or attempted: Category 1 (0–12 months).
• Soliciting mutiny or sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy, not committed or attempted: Category 3 (30–120 months).
• Soliciting any other offense: dependent on the underlying offense.

Where the authorized maximum confinement for a particular solicitation is shorter than the upper limit of its category, the shorter period is the recommended maximum.

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

Solicitation requires neither agreement nor any further act by the person solicited; conspiracy (Article 81) requires an agreement and an overt act. Solicitation is not an attempt (Article 80), which requires the accused’s own direct movement toward committing the offense.

What the Provision Does

Article 82 makes it an offense to solicit or advise another person to commit an offense under the UCMJ, whether or not the other person agrees or acts, and sets specific punishments for soliciting desertion, mutiny, sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy.

History

Article 82 appeared in the original 1950 UCMJ, codified at 10 U.S.C. § 882 in 1956, and originally covered only soliciting desertion, mutiny, sedition, or misbehavior before the enemy. The Military Justice Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5403) rewrote it, effective January 1, 2019, to cover soliciting any offense under the UCMJ, consolidating the former Article 134 offense of soliciting another to commit an offense (paragraph 105 of the 2016 edition of the Manual). A cross-reference was corrected in 2017 (Pub. L. 115-91).

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 882 (Article 82, UCMJ)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, 2024 edition, Part IV, ¶ 6
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12B and Appendix 12C
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 12D
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Appendix 17 (Analysis of Punitive Articles)