[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 10, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69912-69913]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22364]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
[Docket ID: DoD-2023-OS-0083]
Joint Rules of Appellate Procedure for Courts of Criminal
Appeals; Proposed Changes
AGENCY: Joint Rules of Appellate Procedure for Courts of Criminal
Appeals (JRAP) Committee, Department of Defense.
ACTION: Notice of availability; changes to the JRAP.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces proposed changes to the JRAP, which
prescribe uniform rules of procedure for Courts of Criminal Appeals.
Although these rules of practice and procedure fall within the
Administrative Procedure Act's exemptions for notice and comment, the
Department, as a matter of policy, has decided to make these changes
available for public review and comment before they are implemented.
The proposed changes are a refinement of the JRAP effective January 1,
2019 and implement statutory changes expanding the jurisdiction of
Courts of Criminal Appeals and creating special trial counsel. The
approval authorities for these changes are the Judge Advocates General
of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
DATES: Comments on the proposed changes must be received no later than
November 9, 2023.
ADDRESSES: The changes to the JRAP are available for review on
Regulations.gov in docket DoD-2023-OS-0083. You may submit comments,
identified by docket number and title by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for further instructions on
submitting comments.
Mail: Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant to
the Secretary of Defense for Privacy, Civil Liberties, and
Transparency, Regulatory Directorate, 4800 Mark Center Drive, Attn:
Mailbox 24, Suite 08D09, Alexandria, VA 22350-1700.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this Federal Register document. The general
policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is
to make these submissions available for public viewing on the internet
at https://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change,
including any personal identifiers or contact information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Robin Jaramillo, (202)
685-7695, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 included several significant amendments to
the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. 801 et seq.
Regarding military appellate practice the NDAA:
Added 10 U.S.C. 824a, creating the Office of the Special
Trial Counsel, with exclusive authority over certain victim-centric
offenses, known as ``covered offenses.''
Amended 10 U.S.C. 866 to expand the jurisdiction of the
Courts of Criminal Appeals to all courts-martial resulting in a guilty
verdict.
The Joint Rules of Appellate Procedure for Courts of Criminal
Appeals (JRAP) Committee convened and suggested numerous changes to the
JRAP, both to reflect these changes to the UCMJ and to clarify several
issues that have been raised by practitioners since the previous
version of the JRAP became effective on January 1, 2019.
Beyond incorporating the role of the Office of the Special Trial
Counsel in appellate procedure, some of the more significant changes to
the JRAP include:
[cir] Changes to Rule 5 to reflect the Courts' expanded
jurisdiction.
[cir] Changes to Rule 6 to reflect what the record on appeal will
be for the new types of appeals.
[cir] Changes to Rule 16 to clarify procedures for waiver or
withdrawal of appellate review.
[cir] Changes to Rule 18:
[ssquf] To expand on what is required for pro se filings; and
[ssquf] To create procedures for new types of appeals under the
Courts' expanded jurisdiction.
[cir] Changes to Rule 23 to clarify when the Court will consider
factual material not otherwise in the record.
[cir] Changes to Rule 31 to clarify what is required for a Motion
for Reconsideration.
Public Participation and Request for Comments
Public participation is essential to effective governance and all
comments and material received during the comment period will be
considered. Your comment can help shape the outcome of the changes to
the JRAP. If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for
this document, indicate the specific section of this JRAP to which each
comment applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion or
recommendation.
Submitting comments. You may submit comments through the Federal
Docket Management Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. To do so, go
to https://www.regulations.gov, type DoD-2023-OS-0083 in the search box
and click ``Search.'' Next, look for this document in the Search
Results column, and click on it. Then click on the Comment option. If
you cannot submit your material by using https://www.regulations.gov,
call or email the person in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this proposed rule for alternate instructions.
Viewing Material in Docket
To view the JRAP mentioned in this notice of availability as being
available in the docket, find the docket as described in the previous
paragraph, and then select ``Supporting & Related Material'' in the
Document Type column. Public comments will also be placed in the online
docket and can be viewed by following instructions on the https://www.regulations.gov Frequently Asked Questions web page. Also, if you
[[Page 69913]]
click on the Dockets tab and then the notice of availability, you
should see a ``Subscribe'' option for email alerts. This option will
notify you when comments are posted, or the final JRAP is published.
All comments received will be reviewed, but only comments that address
the topic of the changes to the JRAP will be posted. Off-topic,
inappropriate, or duplicate comments may not be posted.
Personal Information
Comments posted to https://www.regulations.gov may include any
personal information you have provided. As a matter of practice, DoD's
Regulatory Directorate does not post personal information to the
Regulations.gov public website. DoD's Regulatory Directorate will pass
submitter personal information to the government points-of-contact for
this action so they may follow-up on comments for more clarity or
additional information. This notice is intended only to improve the
internal management of the Federal Government. It is not intended to
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at
law by any party against the United States, its agencies, its officers,
or any person.
Dated: October 3, 2023.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2023-22364 Filed 10-6-23; 8:45 am]
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