It says “imprisonment for life or to less punishment”, and that means any punishment on the list that's lower than imprisonment for life. So if someone is sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more, or dismissal with pay, or reduction in rank, or forfeiture of seniority, etc., all of these things are lesser punishments than what's provided for in the code.
As Colonel Gibson said, while there is an objective severity here because it can attract life imprisonment, it also can attract lesser punishment. We're looking at a scheme of suggesting that those offences that attract the lesser punishments specified here, “severe reprimand”, “reprimand”, “fine not exceeding basic pay” and “minor punishments” don't attract a criminal record in the list of offences stated.
Our argument is basically that when we recognize that disobedience of lawful order can be very severe or it can be petty, then for those petty ones or those ones that don't attract any higher discipline or penalty than that of a severe reprimand ought not to attract a criminal record.
That's what helps explain it.
In this particular case all those offences listed in amendment G-2 don't attract a criminal record, whether they elect to go to court martial or whether they stay with the commanding officer. In amendment G-2 the government is recognizing that these listed offences, regardless of the mode of trial, whether it's commanding officer, superior officer or court martial, will not attract a criminal record if the penalty is severe reprimand or less.
What we're suggesting is that the scope of that be broadened to include disobedience of a lawful order, which is considered less serious. I don't like the word “petty” because not all offences that could be called“disobedience, which might attract a severe reprimand or a reprimand, might not fall under the petty category but might not lead to a reduction in rank or “dismissal with disgrace from Her Majesty’s service”, as specified in (c).
That's essentially the argument. I think it has merit and it's quite in keeping with amendment G-2 itself, which is designed to set forth a scheme of including all of these offences where the penalty is a severe reprimand or less and should not attract a criminal record.