10 U.S.C. § 895
Section 895 · Art. 95. Resistance, flight, breach of arrest, and escape
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 95 court decisions — leading case United States v. Zupancic (1984)
Most recently applied in United States v. Ward (June 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Drunk or Sleeping on Post, or Leaving Post Before Being Relieved.—Any sentinel or lookout who is drunk on post, who sleeps on post, or who leaves post before being regularly relieved, shall be punished—
(1) if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct; and
(2) if the offense is committed other than in time of war, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.
(b) Loitering or Wrongfully Sitting on Post.—Any sentinel or lookout who loiters or wrongfully sits down on post shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 895 was renumbered section 887a of this title.
Amendments
2016—Pub. L. 114–328, §5411, amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "Any sentinel or look-out who is found drunk or sleeping upon his post, or leaves it before he is regularly relieved, shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct, but if the offense is committed at any other time, by such punishment other than death as a court-martial may direct."
Pub. L. 114–328, §5401(8), renumbered section 913 of this title as this section.
Effective Date of 2016 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 114–328 effective on Jan. 1, 2019, as designated by the President, with implementing regulations and provisions relating to applicability to various situations, see section 5542 of Pub. L. 114–328 and Ex. Ord. No. 13825, set out as notes under section 801 of this title.