Reported sex assaults in military up, but fear of retaliation still high

Reported incidents of sexual assault in the U.S. military increased by 8 percent in the past year, with more service members coming forward to lodge complaints, according to a report released by the Department of Defense. But despite the rise, advocates say that more needs to be done to encourage victims to speak up and that a separation of the prosecution process from the chain of command is vital to combat a fear of retaliation.

The new figures formed part of the a report released Thursday by outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel following a year-long review of the military’s approach to fighting sexual assault.

The 136-page document, commissioned by President Barack Obama in December 2013 to address the problem of abuse in the armed forces, includes a review of the military justice system.

An anonymous survey conducted as part of the report determined that there were a total of 5,983 incidents of sexual assaults in the fiscal year ending in September of 2014, up from 5,518 in the fiscal year ending in 2013.

The study noted that the number of active-duty women who said they experienced unwanted sexual contact in the last year declined to 4.2 percent in 2014 from 6.1 percent in 2012. Among men, the unwanted sexual contact remained about the same, decreasing slightly to 0.9 percent in 2014 from 1.2 percent in 2012.

At the same time, the report cited progress in more soldiers coming forward to report assaults. It said that “while underreporting continues to be a problem,” the number of assault victims who came forward to report incidents increased by 50 percent in 2013, and increased another 8 percent in 2014.

Even so, only around one in four victims reported their assault in 2014 — up from just 11 percent in 2012, the survey results showed.

The report said the rise in those coming forward signaled “growing trust of command and confidence in the response system.”

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Hagel lauded the military's efforts to address sexual assault. “The DOD has been taking aggressive action over the last year and a half to stop sexual assault,” he said. However, despite the increased reporting of incidents, “we still have a long way to go,” he said. "These crimes, however, are still heavily underreported, both nationally and in the military."

But advocates have said that the military justice system, in which a commander selects the jury members who will adjudicate a case, must change from the top down.

“There hasn’t been any change in culture, and the military brass continues to persecute victims while failing to prosecute these serial predators,” said Brian Purchia, director of communications at Protect our Defenders, a national policy and advocacy group fighting military sexual assault.

“Your rapist boss cannot decide whether sexual assault prosecution goes forward or hand-pick the jury,” he added, referring to the military justice system, in which sexual assault victims have complained that the perpetrators are often part of the chain of command.

For example, he pointed to the report’s Workplace and Gender Relations survey from fiscal year 2012, which found that, among women who reported unwanted sexual contact to an authority, 62 percent said they perceived some form of retaliation as a result.

In the 2014 fiscal year that number remained unchanged, with 62 percent of women who had come forward to report sexual assault saying they experienced perceived retaliation for doing so, the report said.

Considering that, as of last year, retaliation against a service member who reports a sexual assault is against the law, the continued fear of coming forward does not bode well, according to Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) and a former captain in the Marine Corps.

“There’s overwhelming evidence that the victims who report are experiencing retaliation,” she said. “When you get evidence like this, you just can’t ignore it. The climate within the military is still extremely dangerous for sex crimes victims to report. We haven’t created a safe climate for them."

At Hagel's press conference, the outgoing defense secretary noted concern over the degree of fear of retaliation. "This is a challenge we are very aware of and are addressing," he said.

In terms of the military justice system, Greg Jacob, the policy director at SWAN, pointed out that the report found that the percentage of sexual assault victims who declined to participate in the military justice process actually rose slightly, to 10 percent in fiscal year 2014 from 9 percent in fiscal year 2013.

“That’s always a bad sign,” he said. “If we’re talking about survivors of sexual assault having confidence in the justice system, we should see more individuals engaged in prosecution.”

The DOD report did note progress in that 87 percent of surveyed soldiers reported that they had taken action to prevent a sexual assault when they witnessed a situation where an assault appeared to be a risk.

While advocates lauded improvements in the quality of the military’s services to help sexual assault victims, they said that the other side of the coin — the prosecution process — was severely lacking.

“We feel that what has to happen next is to reform that judicial process, and create a judicial system that’s run by legal professionals and ruled by law rather than opinions of commanders," Jacob said.

Some changes to the system are afoot. The proposed $585 billion defense bill, currently poised to pass in the House, includes legislation that would change the way the military justice system deals with sexual assault cases, including cutting the nearly century-old practice of using a "good soldier defense" to raise doubts that an assault was committed. 

The bill includes a bipartisan plan created by three female senators — Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Republicans Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Deb Fischer of Nebraska — that would give accusers a greater say in whether their cases are litigated in the military or civilian system. It would also establish a confidential process to allow victims to challenge their separation or discharge from the military, and would increase the accountability of commanders and extend all changes related to sexual assault cases to the service academies.

And Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, along with a bi-partisan cohort of lawmakers including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texa,s and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, is pushing for the passage of the Military Justice Improvement Act, which would move the prosecution of any crime punishable to by a year or more in jail to an independent military prosecutor. 

The bill is also supported by former Air Force Chief Prosecutor Col. Don Christensen, who described in a recent New York Times Magazine article his difficulties in attempting to prosecute military sexual assaults.

Bhagwati said that it was important to remember that, in breaking down the numbers, 55 U.S. service members experience sexual assault every day. "That is appalling," she said. "We have a lot of work left to do."

With wire services