Series details: CRDA/23

The datasets held by NDAD in this series are derived from a database containing information on the courts martial of armed forces personnel, maintained by the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces. A court martial is a court convened to try armed forces personnel who have committed military or criminal offences.1 In the UK criminal offences committed by soldiers or airmen will normally be tried by local civilian courts, although the Army or RAF may be granted jurisdiction in which case they will be tried by court martial. Service personnel who have committed offences under military law will always be tried by court martial. Outside the UK the jurisdiction of courts martial is based on agreements such as NATO's Status of Forces Agreement which gives rights to countries sending forces to serve in other countries to exercise jurisdiction over its soldiers who commit offences.2

There are two major types of court martial dealt with by the JAG case index system:

• General Court Martial (GCM) - deals with commissioned officers, warrant officers and the most serious cases involving other ranks. A GCM is heard by a court martial comprising at least five officers, one of whom is nominated as the president of the court and a judge advocate. The president of the court will normally hold field officer rank and at least four members of the court will be of a rank not below that of captain (or flight lieutenant in the case of the RAF). Its maximum powers of punishment are whatever is prescribed by law for the offence(s) of which the accused is convicted.
• District Court Martial (DCM) - A DCM is more limited in its jurisdiction, a maximum sentence of 2 years imprisonment can be imposed by the court. Officers cannot be tried by a DCM. The membership of a DCM comprises at least three officers, one of whom is nominated as the president of the court and a judge advocate.3

In addition the Judge Advocate General's office deals with cases heard by the Standing Civilian Court. This court was created by the Armed Forces Act 1976 and has a jurisdiction over service dependants and UK based civilians working for the Ministry of Defence who are within the limits of the command of an officer commanding a body of the regular forces outside the United Kingdom.4 The court is presided over by a magistrate who is a senior judge-advocate. He usually sits alone although, when hearing cases involving juveniles, he will sit with assessors, who are usually Crown Servants. The proceedings are less formal than those of a court-martial, although the powers of sentencing are wider (albeit limited to a maximum of 12 months imprisonment). Cases which involve serious allegations will not normally be tried by the SCC. They will go to court-martial, where the range of sentencing options is extended, in the case of civilians, by the APOTOC Regulations (Additional Powers on Trial of Civilians by SCC and Court-Martial).5

The Case Index System was developed for use by the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces, part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. For further information on the history of the Office of Judge Advocate General see the Administrative History of the Lord Chancellor's Department.

Three datasets in this series have been transferred to NDAD, all are derived from a Dataease database used in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces (JAG). At the time of the transfer of the third dataset to NDAD in March 2004 the Dataease system had been superceded by a simplified case index system developed using Microsoft Access. The third dataset in the series was therefore transferred as a final state snapshot of the JAG Dataease database.

The JAG case index system contains details of courts martial involving Army, Royal Marines and RAF personnel and Standing Civilian Courts, it contains details of the offender, the charge, the Judge Advocate presiding at the hearing and the result of the hearing. The data transferred to NDAD contains index details of courts martial and standing civilian court cases heard in the UK and abroad 1991-2004. The system was established in 1992 but contains data from 1991 onwards, it was substantially redeveloped and expanded in 1995 and this is reflected in the arrangement of the datasets transferred to NDAD. The first dataset covering 1991-1995 reflects the Dataease database as originally designed in 1992, the subsequent two datasets reflect the reworked and expanded system developed in 1995.

Further transfers of the JAG case index system to NDAD are expected.

The JAG dataset and its related documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts, 1958 and 1967. The National Archives has assigned the dataset and documentation the series reference LCO 60. It should also be noted that the JAG case index system is a continuation of several series of paper case registers also held at the National Archives under series references AIR21, WO86-89 and WO92.

The JAG datasets and dataset documentation are, in general, open without restriction. It should be noted, however, that a small number of records are closed for 85 years, further details of these closures can be found in the catalogues of individual datasets see Links to dataset catalogues.

The JAG dataset is subject to Crown Copyright. Copies may be made for private study and research only.

The data in the JAG dataset is subject to the Data Protection Act as it contains the names, ranks and service ID numbers of Armed Forces personnel, subject access requests are permitted.

The language of the materials is English.

Documents relating to the JAG dataset have been transferred to NDAD. See the Dataset Documentation Catalogue for further details.

Case registers for RAF courts martial have been deposited at the National Archives (TNA) with the reference AIR 21. Case registers of Army courts martial are deposited at TNA in series WO 86-90 and WO 92. Other records relating to the JAG's office are deposited at TNA under various references in AIR, WO and ER (covering Standing Civilian Courts). See the TNA's online catalogue for further details.

The dataset was run on networked PCs in the JAG's office.

During it's lifetime the Dataease version of the JAG case index system ran under several operating systems: Microsoft DOS version 6.22, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.11 and Microsoft Windows 98.

The JAG case index system dataset was created using DataEase version 4.53 for DOS. At the time of the first transfer in 1999 discussions were underway on migrating the system in to Microsoft Access.6 Migration to Access took place in late 2003 and early 2004 however none of the data received by NDAD came from the Access version of the system.

The system can be used to generate a variety of statistical reports sorting on the basis of the service, rank and sex of offenders, the location of the hearing (UK or overseas) and the court martial type (GCM, DCM or SCC). A summary of the type of statistical reports generated in the post 1995 system can be found in the user manual.7 Output can also be generated in the form of standard letters requesting the return of case files to the JAG's office. Examples of the standard types of output from the system have been transferred to NDAD as dataset documentation. They are described in greater detail in the dataset documentation catalogue.

The JAG case index system consists of 3 datasets covering 1991-1995, 1995-1999 and 2000-2004. The first dataset differs in some ways from the second and third as the system was modified and expanded during 1995. Both versions of the database, however, contain several tables linked by fields containing a unique case number which hold the data plus various lookup tables. The main tables contain information about defendants, a record of the charges brought against defendants and general information about each case including the finding and sentence of the court martial. The system records details of cases in progress which are referred to as Judge Advocate Cases and completed cases which are referred to as Register Cases. Further details of the file and field structure of both JAG datasets are contained in the catalogues of individual datasets

The dataset is dynamic, in the sense that new information is entered into the existing database while cases are in progress. The data that was transferred to NDAD in 1999 included details of cases in progress during 1999. The 2000-2004 dataset was transferred as a final state snapshot following the decision to replace the Dataease database with a new system developed in Microsoft Access.

Data is entered in to the database via on screen forms, examples of which can be seen in the User Manual, Dataset Documentation catalogue, reference CRDA/23/DD/1/1.

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD on each dataset are recorded in the catalogues of individual datasets

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. The National Archives Research Guide: British Army: Courts Martial, 17th-20th Centuries, Military Records Information 22 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/rdleaflet.asp?sLeafletID=28)

2. Aspals Legal Pages For Military Lawyers, "Types of Military Court", (http://www.aspals.com)

3. Armed Forces Act 1996 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/1996046.htm), Courts Martial (Army) Rules 1997 Statutory Instrument 1997 No 169 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1997/19970169.htm), Courts Martial (Royal Air Force) Rules 1997 Statutory Instrument 1997 No 171 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1997/19970171.htm)

4. Aspals Legal Pages For Military Lawyers, "Types of Military Court", (http://www.aspals.com)

5. The Standing Civilian Courts Order 1997, Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 172 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1997/97017201.htm), The Courts-Martial and Standing Civilian Courts (Army and Royal Air Force) (Additional Powers on Trial of Civilians) Regulations 1997, Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 579 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1997/97057901.htm)

6. Note of meeting held on 29 June 1999 between staff from NDAD, LCD and PRO to discuss transfer of dataset to NDAD

7. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/23/DD/1, JAG Case Index System User Manual