Friday, March 14, 2014
Revolutionary Reforms for Military Sexual Assault
Senator Gillibrand's Military
Justice Improvement Act was shot down last week in favor of a less extensive
bill proposed by Senator Claire McCaskill. Still considered progressive,
McCaskill's bill will ensure that all cases in which commanders or prosecutors
do not want to proceed, judge advocates will review the case. It also addresses
the outdated and controversial “Good Soldier” clause by allowing all sexual
violence cases which occur off-base or at a military academy to be tried in
either a civilian or military court at the victim's discretion.
Taking a different approach,
Gillibrand's bill sought to completely remove adjudication from the chain of
command. Gillibrand sheds light on the fact that out of the 26,000 cases of
sexual assault that happened in the military last year, 1 in 4 of the
perpetrators were within the victim's chain of command. In the case of
commanders who are not guilty of sexual violence, they still may be less
inclined to prosecute in fear of a bad image and repudiation from their own
higher-ups, leaving them in an inherently biased position. Because of a
victim's fear of retaliation and lack of faith in receiving a fair trial, more
than 80% of victims do not report their cases.
McCaskill argues that removing a
commander from cases will have little effect given that countries that have
enacted identical laws have experienced no increase in reporting. It's
important to take note that other countries’ military justice systems are
vastly different from ours, making it hard to compare without considering the
vast number of other factors that could be at work. With that said, military
sexual assaults were estimated to have increased by over 30% this year. Time is
of the essence and we can only hope that these reforms make the necessary
impact victims and advocates alike have so desperately longed for.
Read more here.
