The Military Continues To Under-Prosecute The Epidemic Of Sexual Assault In The Armed Forces

I’m not a math whiz but according to the most recent report on sexual assault in the military from  the Pentagon, and being probably more generous than is warranted–using the 2,280 cases where victims provided all the necessary information (see below)–only 13.9% of these cases were referred for courts-martial.

And if this is only 20% of the actual assaults that take place (and it could be even less), that would be a referral rate of less than 2.8% (and presumably not all cases that are referred are prosecuted). I am not taking into account the non-judicial actions taken because there is no civilian equivalent–rape and sexual assault are criminal actions and should be treated as such.

And there have been how many reports, hearings, action plans and yada yada?  As Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) quite rightly says, “Military women are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.”

The Pentagon said it received 2,923 reports of sexual assault across the military in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 2008. That’s about a 9 percent increase over the totals reported the year before, but only a fraction of the crimes presumably being committed.

The Pentagon office that collects the data estimates that only 10 percent to 20 percent of sexual assaults among members of the active duty military are reported – a figure similar to estimates of reported cases in the civilian sphere.

The latest figures include 2,280 cases in which a victim provided full accounts and physical evidence when possible, and 643 in which a victim sought care or made a report but refused to provide all the information necessary to pursue an investigation.

The most recent figures, which include cases left open from previous years, show that only 317 cases were referred for courts-martial, or military trials. Another 247 were referred for nonjudicial punishment.

So no doubt there will be more hand-wringing and angst-filled hearings, but in the end, women who join the military are being asked to risk their lives at the hands of their fellow soldiers for the simple reason that rape has always been a weapon of war and is an accepted part of military culture. In short, militarism is about power and control, and so is sexual assault.
By the act of not acting forcefully to stop this sexual assault, we effectively condone it, even in its use against our own soldiers, and that is unacceptable. But it is oxymoronic to believe that the problem will be resolvable within the the institution of the military itself.  The only way to insure the safety of women serving in the armed forces is for there to be civilian  oversight and a re-formulating of what constitutes acceptable military practice in such a way as to protect the human rights of women both in and out of the military.