Pentagon Study Sees Sharp Rise in Sexual Assaults
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — The problem of sexual assault in the military came into unsparing focus on Tuesday as the Pentagon released a study estimating that 26,000 people in the military were sexually assaulted in the 2012 fiscal year, up from 19,000 in the same period a year before.
The military recorded only 3,374 sexual assault reports last year, up from 3,192 in 2011, suggesting that many sexual assault victims continue not to report the crimes for fear of retribution or a lack of justice under the department’s system for prosecuting them.
The study, based on anonymous surveys, was released two days after an officer in charge of sexual assault prevention programs for the Air Force was arrested in Arlington, Va., and charged with sexual battery. The officer's arrest drew a strong condemnation from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.
“If the man in charge for the Air Force in preventing sexual assault was alleged to commit sexual assault this weekend,” Ms. Gillibrand said, then perhaps military officials were not capable of investigating and prosecuting the crimes. Ms. Gillibrand, who nearly yelled as she addressed Michael B. Donley, the secretary of the Air Force, said that the continued pattern of sexual assault of women — and to a far lesser degree of men — was “undermining the credibility of the greatest military force in the world.”
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/us/politics/pentagon-study-sees-sharp-rise-in-sexual-assaults.html?_r=0
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