Making little rocks out of big rocks: implementing sentences to hard labor without confinement: breakin' rocks in the hot sun; I fought the law and the law won. From: Army Lawyer | Date: December 1, 2004| Author: | COPYRIGHT 2004 Judge Advocate General's School. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Unfortunately, there is a widely-held misconception in the Army that hard labor, a form of punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), (3) is "dead." (4) By definition, labor is a physical or mental exertion. (5) A sentence to hard labor without confinement "must amount to punishment; otherwise it is not only irregular but of no effect." (6) Commanders who require convicted Soldiers to perform only routine extra duty tasks when executing a sentence of hard labor without confinement execute a sentence that is of no effect. Commanders and judge advocates (JAs) may ...