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(The Hill) – The prevalence of sexual assaults in the U.S. military is simply getting worse, with service members expressing restricted confidence in the system to convey perpetrators to justice, in response to the Pentagon’s newest annual report on the problem, launched Thursday.
The Department of Defense (DOD) report on sexual assault found that reports of such assaults in the ranks rose considerably in 2021, about 13 % over the earlier 12 months.
What’s extra, 8.4 % of feminine service members had undesirable sexual contact in 2021, the very best charge for the reason that division started monitoring figures in 2006. For males, it was at 1.5 %, the second-highest determine since 2006.
The information is a stark reminder that regardless of efforts by the Pentagon to handle the long-standing downside, curbing sexual assaults in the military has thus far evaded officers.
“These numbers are tragic and extremely disappointing,” Elizabeth Foster, the DOD’s director of power resiliency, informed reporters forward of the doc’s launch.
“On an individual level, it is devastating to conceptualize that these numbers mean that over 35,000 service members’ lives and careers were irrevocably changed by these crimes.”
Overall, out of almost 35,900 incidents that the division estimated to have occurred, there have been 8,866 sexual assault stories filed from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. That provides up to lower than 1 / 4 of suspected incidents being reported.
The spike was largely pushed by the Army, the place stories of sexual assault elevated 25.6 % from fiscal 12 months 2020 to fiscal 12 months 2021.
The Navy, in the meantime, skilled a 9.2 % enhance of reported sexual assaults, whereas the Air Force and the Marines every had a roughly 2 % enhance.
Unsurprisingly, confidence in the military’s response to sexual assault is waning, with solely 39 % of feminine service members saying they belief these in their chain of command to “treat them with dignity and respect” after an incident, in contrast with 66 % in 2018.
For male troops throughout the identical time interval, solely 63 % have been assured they’d be handled effectively after reporting an assault, down from 82 % in 2018.
The insecurity is probably going linked to a drop in prosecutions for sexual assault. In 2021, solely 42 % of the 1,974 instances that ended in self-discipline noticed court-martial proceedings.
That’s a far cry from 2013, when military companies began court-martial proceedings for 71 % of 1,187 instances.
The dismal findings have some lawmakers calling for extra adjustments on the DOD.
Though language was included in essentially the most not too long ago handed National Defense Authorization Act to overtake the military justice system — taking most choices on whether or not to prosecute instances of rape and sexual assault away from military commanders — that’s not sufficient, in response to Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).
Speier, the chairwoman of the House Armed Services military personnel subpanel, known as the outcomes “disturbing” and introduced that she would maintain a listening to in the approaching weeks “to get more answers,” in response to an announcement from her workplace.
“The watchful eye of Congress is needed to ensure that military leadership is held to account and any additional changes deemed necessary to address this national embarrassment and crisis are made,” she mentioned in the assertion. “If we fail to do so, we risk further erosion of the confidence of our troops and further undermining of DoD’s struggling recruitment and retention efforts.”
For its half, Pentagon management is attempting to be proactive in combating sexual assaults in the military companies.
Even previous to the beginning of his tenure, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to fight sexual assault and harassment in the ranks.
During his confirmation hearing in January 2021, the retired normal mentioned he would “fight hard to stamp out” the concern, which he has known as a “scourge” inside the military.
In pursuit of that purpose, Austin directed an Independent Review Commission to present the DOD suggestions on find out how to tackle the issue. The fee got here again with 80 suggestions, all of which the Pentagon adopted right into a plan in September 2021.
And on Thursday the Pentagon chief despatched a DOD-wide memo calling on officers to “redouble efforts to address sexual assault in the military,” Foster mentioned.
The effort will embrace “fielding a new full time and specialized prevention workforce to get to the left of these incidents and stop these crimes before they occur,” she added.
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