UCMJ Article 117: Provoking Speeches or Gestures

Article 117 punishes provoking or reproachful words or gestures toward another person subject to the UCMJ. Words or gestures qualify when used in that person’s presence and of a kind a reasonable person would expect to start a breach of the peace. No fight has to happen. The maximum is 6 months of confinement and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 6 months, with no punitive discharge.

Words or gestures toward another person subject to the UCMJ

10 U.S.C. § 917: “Any person subject to this chapter who uses provoking or reproachful words or gestures towards any other person subject to this chapter shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 55.b, lists three elements:

1. the accused wrongfully used words or gestures toward a certain person;
2. the words or gestures were provoking or reproachful; and
3. the person toward whom they were used was a person subject to the UCMJ.

Presence and the reasonable person

“Provoking” and “reproachful” describe words or gestures that are “used in the presence of the person to whom they are directed” and that “a reasonable person would expect to induce a breach of the peace under the circumstances” (¶ 55.c(1)).

That definition sets two limits:

• Presence. Insults about someone who is not there do not fit the definition.
• An objective standard. The question is what a reasonable person would expect in the circumstances, not whether the target took offense or a fight followed.

Discipline is not provocation

Provoking words “do not include reprimands, censures, reproofs and the like which may properly be administered in the interests of training, efficiency, or discipline in the armed forces” (¶ 55.c(1)). A leader’s proper correction, even a harsh one, is outside the article.

The target’s status

The person addressed must be subject to the UCMJ, but the accused need not know it: “It is not necessary that the accused have knowledge that the person toward whom the words or gestures are directed is a person subject to the UCMJ” (¶ 55.c(2)). Provoking words directed at a civilian who is not subject to the UCMJ fall outside Article 117.

A 6-month offense with no discharge

Under ¶ 55.d, the maximum is confinement for 6 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 6 months. No bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge is authorized for this offense alone.

When the words target a superior or start a fight

Contemptuous or disrespectful words toward a superior commissioned officer fall under Article 89, and toward a warrant officer, NCO, or petty officer in the execution of office under Article 91. If the language can reasonably be expected to produce a violent or turbulent response and a breach of the peace results, the speaker can be guilty of a breach of the peace under Article 116, and a threat to injure is Article 115.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 917, Article 117, Provoking speeches or gestures (Cornell LII)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 55

General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.