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Title 10 — Armed Forces

Part II · Chapter 47 — Uniform Code of Military Justice

§ 831. Art. 31. Compulsory self-incrimination prohibited

Statutory text

(a)

No person subject to this chapter may compel any person to incriminate himself or to answer any question the answer to which may tend to incriminate him.

(b)

No person subject to this chapter may interrogate, or request any statement from, an accused or a person suspected of an offense without first informing him of the nature of the accusation and advising him that he does not have to make any statement regarding the offense of which he is accused or suspected and that any statement made by him may be used as evidence against him in a trial by court-martial.

(c)

No person subject to this chapter may compel any person to make a statement or produce evidence before any military tribunal if the statement or evidence is not material to the issue and may tend to degrade him.

(d)

No statement obtained from any person in violation of this article, or through the use of coercion, unlawful influence, or unlawful inducement may be received in evidence against him in a trial by court-martial.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. (Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 48.) · 70A Stat. 48

    Enacted · 10 U.S.C. § 831

    (Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 48.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 48.)

0 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Notes

historicalAndRevision
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large)
831(a)831(b)50:602(a).50:602(b).May 5, 1950, ch. 169, § 1 (Art 31), 64 Stat. 118.
831(c)50:602(c).
831(d)50:602(d).

The word “may” is substituted for the word “shall” throughout the revised section.

Credits

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 48.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc10.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-04-17

USLM identifier /us/usc/t10/s831