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“My supervisor told me not to tell my commanding officer. … When a report was made, they tried to keep it as quiet as possible.” — Jimmy Coats, who served in the Navy for eight years
The accounts by survivors of sexual assault recently detailed in The New York Times are exactly why real reform is needed in the military justice system. There were an estimated 26,000 cases of sexual assault last year, but only 3,000 were reported.
And when a survivor does file a complaint, the commander in charge has the ability to set aside guilty verdicts, return the attacker into the ranks, and in some cases even promote the attacker.
We need your help to change the system right now. Tell your Senators you won’t accept anything less than a strong solution for military survivors of sexual assault.
While your Senators are home and looking to hear from their constituents, they need to hear that you support legislation, introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, which takes the decision to prosecute these cases out of the chain of command and puts it where it belongs — in the hands of trained independent military prosecutors. We’re almost there, and you can help push this through.
Help us stand up for service members everywhere by writing your Senators and telling them you support the Military Justice Improvement Act.
This legislation transcends party politics — with Republicans and Democrats signing on to support the bill. They understand that our service members deserve better, and they’re willing to work together to make it happen.
We need to keep up the pressure on our Senators to support this legislation. And we need your help to do it.
Tell your Senators you won’t accept anything less than a strong solution for military survivors of sexual assault.
Sincerely, |
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Stand with Survivors of Sexual Assault |
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Tell your Senators: Stand with survivors to prevent sexual assault in the military. |
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Fox News host Andrea Tantaros attacked MSNBC for covering the Senate’s hearing last week on the scourge of tens of thousands of sexual assaults in the military. She said, “What baffles me though is the way they prioritize these issues… Why is MSNBC devoting so much time to this issue?”
Why? Maybe we should instead be asking why isn’t everyone trying to fix this egregious injustice?
Tell your Senators: Stand strong for survivors of sexual assault in the military.
Sexual assault and sexual harassment have been persistent problems in the military for decades. As soon as tomorrow, Congress will have the opportunity to do something about it, as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee begin making changes to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014. They can do the right thing by improving the military justice system in ways that will deter perpetrators and send a strong message that sexual assault will not be tolerated. This can be accomplished by moving decision-making on whether and how to prosecute serious offenses like sexual assault out of the chain of command — and by giving decisions to prosecute to trained, experienced military prosecutors, creating a specialized office to convene courts and appoint judges and juries, and prohibiting commanders from overturning guilty verdicts.
Separating military justice decision-making from the chain of command will put decision-making into the hands of those who have legal expertise and make it possible for commanders to concentrate on the areas in which they have expertise, including improving the climate in their commands to prevent sexual assault.
It’s time to fix this broken system. Take action and stand up for survivors of sexual assault in the military.
Congress has a responsibility to members of the military and survivors everywhere to ensure that perpetrators of sexual assault are held accountable for their actions and not allowed back into the ranks. We must work together to make sure that happens.
Sincerely, |
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Bear with me for a moment as I share some numbers:
- More than 200,000 women are in the active-duty military, making up 14.5 percent of the active-duty force.
- Nearly 3,200 cases of sexual assault in the military were reported in 2010, yet the Department of Defense estimates the actual number of assaults to be at least 19,000 since most cases are never reported.
- Of the sexual assault cases reported to military officials, only 8 percent of the attackers in those cases were prosecuted in the military court system – compared with 40 percent of similar offenders prosecuted in the civilian court system.
Eight percent. And even if the military justice system convicts a perpetrator of sexual assault, the perpetrator’s commander, someone with no legal training whatsoever, can throw out that conviction at their own discretion – even the president of the United States cannot overturn their decision.
Yesterday I stood with two of our nation’s veterans as they recounted their experiences with sexual assault in the military. When Kelly Smith first reported her assault at age 19, investigators interrogated her for eight hours and accused her of lying. Although her attacker eventually signed a confession, Smith says he never appeared before a court martial and instead retired with full honors and benefits.
I also stood next to Jeremiah Arbogast, a retired Marine Corps member, who told his story from a wheelchair. He was left a paraplegic after his failed suicide attempt – a desperate action he took after he was sexually assaulted by a fellow Marine. As Arbogast said, we still have the world’s finest fighting force – but it is being threatened by too many sexual predators who are protected and allowed to stay in the military.
I joined these truly courageous veterans and our congressional champions on Capitol Hill yesterday to call for passage of the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act, or STOP Act, which would create an independent, professional office within the military to investigate, and prosecute sexual assault, instead of leaving the decisions in the hands of commanders who can act at their own discretion. The STOP Act would still keep the authority over sexual assault cases in the military—just not in the hands of individual commanders who are not trained to handle these cases. AAUW believes the result will be the kind of confidential and thorough investigative process necessary in the face of such crimes.
Join me in urging your representative to cosponsor the STOP Act and fundamentally change how sexual assault is handled in the military.
We have to do something about those numbers I mentioned. We have to do something to prevent experiences like those of Kelly Smith and Jeremiah Arbogast from happening again. Urge your representative to cosponsor the STOP Act (H.R. 1593) today.
Thank you,
Lisa Maatz
AAUW Director of Public Policy and Government Relations
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