UCMJ Article 124 Maiming vs Article 128 Assault: Permanent Injury vs General Violence
On this page: 5 sections
Article 128a, not Article 124, is the maiming article: the offense moved on January 1, 2019, and Article 124 now covers frauds against the United States. Maiming requires a particular result: a serious injury of a substantially permanent nature that disfigures a person, destroys or disables a member or organ, or seriously diminishes physical vigor. Assault under Article 128 requires no injury at all for its basic forms, and its aggravated forms turn on the weapon used, the degree of harm, or strangulation.
The intent maiming requires is a specific intent to injure, not an intent to cause the lasting result.
Article 128a
Any person subject to this chapter who, with intent to injure, disfigure, or disable, inflicts upon the person of another an injury which … (1) seriously disfigures his person by any mutilation thereof; (2) destroys or disables any member or organ of his body; or (3) seriously diminishes his physical vigor by the injury of any member or organ; is guilty of maiming
Source: 10 U.S.C. § 928a (Article 128a), renumbered from § 924 by Pub. L. 114-328, § 5401(13)(A).
The Manual for Courts-Martial explains three points (MCM, Part IV, ¶ 78.c):
- What counts. Putting out an eye, cutting off a hand, foot, or finger, and knocking out a tooth destroy or disable members or organs. Injuring an internal organ so as to seriously diminish physical vigor also counts, as do cutting off an ear or scarring a face with acid. A disfigurement must “impair perceptibly and materially the victim’s comeliness.”
- Permanence. The injury “must be a serious injury of a substantially permanent nature,” but the offense is complete “even though there is a possibility that the victim may eventually recover the use of the member or organ, or that the disfigurement may be cured by surgery.”
- Intent. “Maiming requires a specific intent to injure generally but not a specific intent to maim. Thus, one commits the offense who intends only a slight injury, if in fact there is infliction of an injury of the type specified.” The injury itself may support an inference of intent.
The article applies to an injury inflicted “upon the person of another.” Self-inflicted injury is addressed elsewhere: as malingering under Article 83 when the purpose is to avoid duty, or as an Article 134 offense when it is not.
Article 128
(a) … Any person subject to this chapter who, unlawfully and with force or violence … (1) attempts to do bodily harm to another person; (2) offers to do bodily harm to another person; or (3) does bodily harm to another person; is guilty of assault
Source: 10 U.S.C. § 928(a) (Article 128).
Subsection (b) defines aggravated assault as an offer of bodily harm with a dangerous weapon and intent to do bodily harm, an assault inflicting substantial or grievous bodily harm, or an assault by strangulation or suffocation. Subsection (c) covers assault with intent to commit murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, rape of a child, sexual assault of a child, robbery, arson, burglary, or kidnapping.
Three levels of harm
The Manual defines the harm terms that sort assault cases (¶ 77.c(1)):
- Bodily harm: “an offensive touching of another, however slight.”
- Substantial bodily harm: a temporary but substantial disfigurement, or a temporary but substantial loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.
- Grievous bodily harm: an injury involving a substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of function.
Attempt, offer, and battery
An assault is “an unlawful attempt or offer, made with force or violence, to do bodily harm to another, whether or not the attempt or offer is consummated” (¶ 77.c(2)(a)).
- Attempt-type assault requires specific intent to inflict bodily harm and an overt act; the victim need not know of it.
- Offer-type assault is an unlawful demonstration of violence, intentional or culpably negligent, that creates a reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm; no intent to injure is required.
- Battery is an assault consummated by inflicting bodily harm, directly or indirectly. The Manual’s examples include spitting on someone, setting a dog on someone, and driving a car into someone (¶ 77.c(3)).
Threatening words alone are not an assault, though words plus a menacing act or gesture may be (¶ 77.c(2)(c)(ii)).
The aggravated forms
- Dangerous weapon. The accused must have specifically intended bodily harm; culpable negligence is not enough. A weapon is dangerous “when used in a manner capable of inflicting death or grievous bodily harm,” which can include a bottle, a rock, boiling water, or, in the right circumstances, fists or feet. No injury is required (¶ 77.c(5)(a)).
- Substantial or grievous bodily harm is “a general intent crime.” It does not require specific intent to cause that degree of harm; the focus is the harm that resulted (¶ 77.c(5)(b)(i)).
- Strangulation or suffocation is committed intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, “regardless of whether that conduct results in any visible injury” (¶ 77.c(5)(c)).
Where assault becomes maiming
| Assault with substantial or grievous bodily harm, 128(b)(2) | Maiming, 128a | |
|---|---|---|
| Intent | General intent to commit the assault; no intent to cause the degree of harm | Specific intent to injure; no intent to maim |
| Result | Substantial or grievous bodily harm | Serious disfigurement, destruction or disabling of a member or organ, or seriously diminished vigor |
| Duration | Substantial bodily harm may be temporary | "Substantially permanent," even if recovery or surgery is possible |
| Maximum | 3 to 10 years, depending on harm, weapon, and victim | 20 years |
For example, a punch thrown to cause a minor injury that knocks out the victim’s tooth fits maiming under the Manual’s own example, because the intent to injure is present and the injury is of the listed type. A punch that leaves a black eye is battery, and one that causes a temporary but substantial disfigurement can be aggravated assault inflicting substantial bodily harm. Which category a particular injury falls into is judged from the medical and other evidence of the injury.
Maximum punishments
| Offense | Maximum (MCM, Part IV, ¶ 77.d and ¶ 78.d) |
|---|---|
| Maiming | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 20 years |
| Simple assault | Confinement for 3 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 3 months |
| Simple assault with a firearm or other dangerous weapon | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 2 years; 4 years with a loaded firearm |
| Assault consummated by a battery | Bad-conduct discharge, total forfeitures, 6 months |
| Assault on a commissioned officer, not in the execution of office | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 3 years |
| Assault on a warrant officer, not in the execution of office | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 18 months |
| Assault on a noncommissioned or petty officer, not in the execution of office | Bad-conduct discharge, total forfeitures, 6 months |
| Assault on a sentinel, lookout, or person performing law enforcement duties | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 3 years |
| Battery on a child under 16 | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 2 years |
| Aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures; 8 years with a loaded firearm, 5 years on a child under 16, otherwise 3 years |
| Aggravated assault inflicting substantial bodily harm | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures; 8 years with a loaded firearm, 6 years on a child under 16, otherwise 3 years |
| Aggravated assault inflicting grievous bodily harm | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures; 10 years with a loaded firearm, 8 years on a child under 16, otherwise 5 years |
| Aggravated assault by strangulation or suffocation | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures; 8 years on a child under 16, otherwise 5 years |
| Assault with intent to commit murder, rape, or rape of a child | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 20 years |
| Assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter, robbery, arson, burglary, kidnapping, sexual assault, or sexual assault of a child | Dishonorable discharge, total forfeitures, 10 years |
“Total forfeitures” means forfeiture of all pay and allowances. Knowledge of an officer’s, sentinel’s, or law enforcement member’s status is an element for the higher maximums; knowledge of a child’s age is not (¶ 77.c(4)). Where every finding of guilty is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence in a general or special court-martial, other than a capital case (10 U.S.C. § 853(b)(1)).
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 928a, maiming (Article 128a)
- 10 U.S.C. § 928, assault (Article 128)
- 10 U.S.C. § 924, frauds against the United States (Article 124)
- 10 U.S.C. § 883, malingering (Article 83)
- 10 U.S.C. § 853, findings and sentencing (Article 53)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 edition), Part IV, ¶ 77 and ¶ 78.
General information on how Articles 128 and 128a define assault and maiming; no injury or incident in a real case is assessed. This page reflects the UCMJ as amended through Public Law 119-60 (December 18, 2025) and the Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 edition) as amended by Executive Order 14130.