Posted on Jan 14, 2016
Is it a crime to wear medals/ribbons that you have not earned?
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Stolen Valor
Ribbons
Medals
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 84
No it is not a crime. There was an attempt to make Stolen Valor a crime under the Stolen Valor Act signed in late 2006. The law was pretty quickly overturned by the Supreme Court in 2012 under United States v. Alvarez. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Alvarez
I interpret the court's position as a desire not to persecute people because of what symbols they wear on their clothes, or to begin convicting people for lying, since lying is not a crime (and probably not the road we want to go down as a free society). As disgusting as Stolen Valor acts are, we still live in a free country. It's important to note that if somebody commits fraud with Stolen Valor then that is still a crime, since fraud is still a crime.
One argument some people have made is that one cannot impersonate a police officer, so the same should apply to military. This is only partly accurate, since police officers actually have authority over others while veterans do not. So a police officer can go to a person and detain them, tell them to go somewhere, to come somewhere, or to put them in handcuffs and in the back of their car and drive them off. Therefore if somebody impersonated a police officer it could lead to wrongful detention, not to mention making it harder for cops to do their jobs. This is not the same as somebody going around telling false war stories.
I interpret the court's position as a desire not to persecute people because of what symbols they wear on their clothes, or to begin convicting people for lying, since lying is not a crime (and probably not the road we want to go down as a free society). As disgusting as Stolen Valor acts are, we still live in a free country. It's important to note that if somebody commits fraud with Stolen Valor then that is still a crime, since fraud is still a crime.
One argument some people have made is that one cannot impersonate a police officer, so the same should apply to military. This is only partly accurate, since police officers actually have authority over others while veterans do not. So a police officer can go to a person and detain them, tell them to go somewhere, to come somewhere, or to put them in handcuffs and in the back of their car and drive them off. Therefore if somebody impersonated a police officer it could lead to wrongful detention, not to mention making it harder for cops to do their jobs. This is not the same as somebody going around telling false war stories.
United States v. Alvarez - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. ___ (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, a federal law that criminalized false statements about having a military medal. The law had been passed as an effort to stem instances where people falsely claimed to have won the medal in an attempt to protect the "valor" of those who really had. While a 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court agreed that the...
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SFC Greg Bruorton
Major Weiss's comments on this subject are informed and intelligent. Nevertheless, those who relish stealing the valor of the U.S. Armed Forces are ignorant and delusional. Most of those I've seen display their ignorance simply in what they wear on their plagiarized uniform. Wearing a major's oak leaf insignia and an NCO's chevrons on the sleeves does not make him a Sergeant Major--although I saw such a farce some time ago. It is really laughable, yet disconcerting to see someone exhibit such delusions of grandeur and heroism. It gets so tempting to march up and slap the silly grin off the miscreant's face.
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Cpl Charles Trump
MSgt (Join to see) In Nc the mere possession of a badge or uniform is enough to be charged it shows intent!
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Sgt Patrick Carron
I agree. But those who have never served can wear the medals as if they earned them and are not subject to the UCMJ.
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SGT Chris Hotchkiss
It is a crime, and punishable as a misdemeanor, subsequent charges can become a felony and punishable by fine, or imprisonment or both.
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