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Under
the jurisdiction of the Chief of Fleet Operations, the Office of
the Judge Advocate General enforces all administrative law
within the ranks of Starfleet. The JAG carries out investigations
of wrong-doing by Starfleet officers and convenes court martial’s
when necessary. Although the Judge Advocate General itself
is headquartered at Starfleet Command in Falls Church, VA., Earth,
the JAG maintains offices on all major starbases. Any incident
requiring the intervention of the JAG is referred to the nearest
local office, though extremely important cases or those involving
high-ranking officers are often pulled back to Starfleet Command
for JAG’s personal attention.
In addition to upholding Starfleet's Uniform Code Of Military Justice,
the JAG investigates and prosecutes cases involving violations
of Starfleet’s General Orders, the Constitution of the United Federation
of Planets, and the laws of Federation member worlds. The Judge
Advocate General’s office has jurisdiction over any member of
Starfleet accused of wrongdoing, even if the violation occured under
local law. Normally, on a member planet, local authorities remand
the accused officer to Starfleet’s custody, and the officer is tried
under the Uniform Code Of Military Justice. On a non-alligned planet,
however, this is largely a question of custody; once in an alien
jail, it is within the planet’s rights to try the accused. Starfleet,
however, works hard to convince the planet’s government to surrender
the accused for court-martial proceedings. This isn’t always successful,
and more than one officer has faced trial on an alien world, under
unfamiliar (and sometimes poorly understood) laws. Often, in the
case of laws broken on a nonmember world, the JAG office will
invite a representative of the local government to observe, or even
present evidence.
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