More victims reporting assault under AF policy

[unhappycamper]

More victims reporting assault under AF policy
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, February 1, 2008

KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — A 3-year-old U.S. Air Force policy that lets sexual assault victims get treatment and counseling without launching a criminal investigation has increased the number of victims who seek help, according to officials at Kunsan Air Base.

"People know they’ll be protected. I think it gives them a sense of control at some level at a time when their lives are out of control," said Maj. Bruce Marshall, a chaplain at Kunsan. "I think that sense of being re-victimized by the process is diminished, if not gone."

The policy, started in 2005 in response to reports of widespread sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy, lets victims make a "restricted" report of a sexual assault. That option lets them get medical treatment, including testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and speak confidentially with a sexual assault response coordinator, or SARC, but doesn’t launch a criminal investigation.

The SARC is required to report that an incident happened but doesn’t release the names of those involved or details of the incident.

Marshall said the restricted reporting option has encouraged some victims to get medical treatment immediately instead of waiting several months. That means they’re able to recover from the assault more quickly, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52087

[appleannie1]

1. It is about time they offer help for the victim.

That attitude should spread to civilian life and courts should realize that it is not a woman's fault if she is raped. Because a sex act is involved, there is still the attitude that the victim must have asked for it in some way. Rape is not a sex crime, it is a hate crime perpetuated by someone that wants to hurt his victim in the most vicious and psychologically damaging way possible.