UCMJ Article 119b: Child Endangerment
On this page
Child endangerment is endangering the mental or physical health, safety, or welfare of a child under 16, by design or culpable negligence, by someone with a duty to care for that child. No harm has to occur. The maximum depends on intent and result: from a bad-conduct discharge and 1 year for culpable negligence without harm, to a dishonorable discharge and 8 years for endangerment by design resulting in grievous bodily harm.
A duty of care for a child under 16
Under 10 U.S.C. § 919b, the offense is committed by a person subject to the UCMJ “who has a duty for the care of a child under the age of 16 years” and who, “through design or culpable negligence, endangers the child’s mental or physical health, safety, or welfare.”
The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 59.b, lists three elements: the duty of care for a certain child, the child’s age under 16, and endangerment through design or culpable negligence.
The article was added by the Military Justice Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5429); before 2019, child endangerment was an enumerated Article 134 offense that also required the terminal element.
Key definitions
Paragraph 59.c defines the terms the elements depend on:
- Endanger: “to subject one to a reasonable probability of harm.”
- Harm not required: actual harm is not an element; the conduct must be such that it “reasonably could have caused physical or mental harm or suffering.” Actual harm raises the maximum.
- Design: “on purpose, intentionally, or according to plan,” requiring “specific intent to endanger the child.”
- Culpable negligence: carelessness greater than simple negligence, with a culpable disregard for foreseeable consequences; it may include acts that, “viewed in the light of human experience, might foreseeably result in harm to a child.”
How culpable negligence is judged
The Manual lists factors: the child’s age and maturity, the conditions surrounding the conduct, how close help was, the environment the child was left in, the provisions made for the child’s care, and where the responsible adult was relative to the child (¶ 59.c(2)).
It also gives a direct example of age as a factor: “Leaving a teenager alone for an evening may not be culpable (or even simple) negligence; leaving an infant or toddler for the same period might constitute culpable negligence.” But leaving a teenager unsupervised for an extended period while on temporary duty outside commuting distance “might constitute culpable negligence” (¶ 59.c(5)).
Who has a duty
The duty of care “is determined by the totality of the circumstances and may be established by statute, regulation, legal parent-child relationship, mutual agreement, or assumption of control or custody by affirmative act.” Without a duty, there is no offense: a stranger who does not feed a starving child, or a person not charged with a child’s care who does not stop the child from playing in the street, has not committed child endangerment (¶ 59.c(6)). A babysitting arrangement or taking a child into one’s custody can create the duty.
1 to 8 years, set by mental state and harm
From ¶ 59.d:
| Mental state | Result | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Grievous bodily harm | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 8 years |
| Design | Harm | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 5 years |
| Design | No harm | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 4 years |
| Culpable negligence | Grievous bodily harm | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 3 years |
| Culpable negligence | Harm | Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 2 years |
| Culpable negligence | No harm | Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year |
“Grievous bodily harm” carries its Article 128 meaning: an injury involving a substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily function (¶ 77.c(1)(c)).
When force or injury is involved
When the conduct includes force against the child, battery on a child under 16 or aggravated assault under Article 128 can apply, and those are “child abuse offenses” with an extended statute of limitations under 10 U.S.C. § 843(b)(2). Harm by a parent or household member can also be domestic violence under Article 128b when its elements are met.
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 919b, Article 119b, Child endangerment (Cornell LII)
- 10 U.S.C. § 843, Article 43, Statute of limitations (Cornell LII)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 59 and ¶ 77.c(1)(c)
General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.