Pentagon grapples with retaliation in sex assault cases
Source: AP-Excite
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not against the law or military regulations to choose not to sit with someone in the dining hall or to unfriend them on Facebook, but in the traumatic aftermath of a sexual assault, a victim could interpret those moves as retaliation.
In these days when a tweet or Instagram photo can be wielded as weapons, the Pentagon is struggling to define retaliation and rein in bullying or other behavior that victims perceive as vengeful. At the same time, military leaders are expanding efforts to better train their lower- and midlevel commanders to detect and deal with retaliation, while also insuring that other, more innocent actions are not misinterpreted by assault victims.
On Friday, the Pentagon released a deeper analysis of the sexual assault survey data made public last December. That report acknowledges the difficulties in gathering data about retaliation, including problems with how some of the survey questions may have been misinterpreted and that incidents of retaliation may have been over counted.
It's a thorny problem for the military, in the aftermath of a RAND study that concluded that about 60 percent of sexual assault victims believe they have faced retaliation from commanders or peers. Members of Congress are demanding swift steps to protect whistle-blowers, including sexual assault victims who have been wronged as a result of their reports or complaints.
FULL story at link.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks at the Pentagon during a news conference, Friday, May 1, 2015, to discuss the Defense Department's annual report on sexual assault in the military. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150501/us--military_sexual_assaults-ffae193907.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
... when, in this day and age, a sexual assault occurs every 23 minutes:
18,900 victims / 365.25 days / 24 hours = 2.6 victims per hour.
The current DOD report is here (pdf):
Sexual assault is a crime that has no place in the United States Armed Forces. The Department of Defense worked aggressively during fiscal year 2014 to sustain and enhance its prevention and response system, through both programmatic
initiatives and policy changes to combat sexual assault. The Department of Defense has many options in place to help victims
recover, address their safety, document the alleged crime, and understand their legal options.
... (read the document)
