The Commissioner punished officers in 180 of those cases.

Mr. Giuliani contends the bill would make it extremely difficult to punish corrupt officers.

The Senate bill would have halted aid if Colombia failed to punish abusive officers.

Mr. Duarte sharply reduced human rights abuses by the army, but never was able to stamp them out or punish guilty officers.

But records show that the department rarely punishes officers severely for any offenses, even when the accusations involve domestic violence.

He was in a position of knowing the terrorism and did not punish Japanese officers.

Critics of the department, though, say it reflects a greater hesitancy to punish officers for brutality than for corruption.

But critics note that the department still routinely declines to punish officers whose conduct has been ruled improper by the board.

The Marines could punish other ranking officers administratively in weeks to come.

And, he said, it was even harder to fight a reluctance by the courts to punish officers.