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August 16, 2013

Pentagon Releases New Measures to Address Military Sexual Assault 
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The Pentagon has unveiled new measures to address the epidemic of sexual
assault in the military. The efforts include giving legal representation
to victims, requiring the Pentagon's inspector general to review cases
that are closed, and empowering commanders to reassign soldiers accused
of assault. But the reforms do not address the key question of whether
to remove the fate of sexual assault cases from the military chain of
command. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and others want to wrest
that control from military commanders, instead letting independent
military prosecutors decide if a case goes to trial. A Pentagon survey
estimated 26,000 people were sexually assaulted in the armed forces last
year. The number of actually reported sexual assaults for the Pentagon's
2012 fiscal year was roughly 3,400. Of those, only 190 were sent to a
court-martial proceeding.

 

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