DOD Service Academies

Over the years, there have been several highly publicized incidents at the nation's military academies involving honor or conduct charges against students. GAO reviewed the adjudicatory systems used at the academies to make decisions on student conduct and performance. This report (1) compares the honor and conduct systems at each academy and describes how the various systems provide common due process protections and (2) describes the attitudes and perceptions of students toward these systems.

GAO found that: (1) although the honor systems at the academies have many similarities, there are some prominent differences among them; (2) the honor codes at the Military and Air Force academies include non-toleration clauses that make it an honor offense to know about an honor offense and not report it, while at the Naval Academy failure to act on a suspected honor violation is a conduct offense; (3) differences also exist in the standard of proof that is used in honor hearings, "beyond a reasonable doubt" used at the Air Force Academy versus "a preponderance of the evidence" used at the other academies; (4) academy honor hearings provide students with the majority of the protections typically associated with procedural due process, with some exceptions and limitations; (5) the most prominent limitations exist on the right to representation by counsel and the right to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination; (6) all three academies impose a limitation on the right to counsel by prohibiting military or civilian lawyers from representing cadets and midshipmen in the hearing itself; (7) the right to remain silent is not granted until the individual is actually charged with an offense; (8) responses to a GAO questionnaire indicated that academy students generally saw their honor systems as fair; (9) in some cases, whether an act constitutes an honor violation is not completely clear because the intent of the accused must be inferred from the investigative and hearing processes; (10) there was considerable reluctance among students to report their fellow students for honor violations; (11) in general, the administrative conduct systems at the Military and Naval academies provide several due process protections, with some exceptions and limitations on others; (12) the Cadet Disciplinary Board proceedings at the Air Force Academy, on the other hand, provided fewer due process protections than proceedings at the other two academies; (13) as of January 1, 1995, the Air Force Academy eliminated the Cadet Disciplinary Board and implemented a two-step process aimed at improving timeliness and fairness in dealing with major conduct offenses; (14) while the conduct systems are characterized by academy officials as administrative, rather than judicial, they offer less due process protection than is mandated across DOD for other nonjudicial disciplinary proceedings; (15) a large majority of the students questioned the reasonableness of many of the minor rules and regulations in the conduct codes; and (16) many students perceive academy handling of conduct offenses, the application of rules and regulations, and the imposition of disciplinary actions as inconsistent.