DoD Sexual Assault Report Gives Staggering Update

Some might say that doing something as radical and huge as suing the military for failing to properly address high levels of unaddressed sexual assault might be a bit over-the-top. I would not fall under the category of “some.” Not after reading this update from the Service Women's Action Network (pdf) announcing the release of the DoD's annual Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) annual report.

The Annual Report of Sexual Assault in the Military comes out every year from SAPRO to give us a "State of the Union" of sorts on the status of sexual assault, the incidences, and all the gory details legally allowed from each branch for each fiscal year (October through October). This year's report showed that things in the military have become more grim than a fairy tale of the same name. Of 3,158 total reported rapes and assaults, only 529 ever saw a day in court. That is not a large number.

To bust down the way the military handles things, this is only reported incidences. The military itself puts this 3,158 number at about 13.5% of total rapes and sexual assaults, bringing the grand total up to somewhere around 19,000 rapes and assaults total happening in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. That is a large number.

This discrepancy in reporting may be in part due to the reporting process that allows survivors to decide who and when and how they report. Restricted Reporting (a process I have deeply mixed feelings about, as I have said before in this space) allows survivors to get the important help that they need, but it doesn't put rapists behind bars and actually perpetuates the problem of leaving them in the ranks to rape again. While RR is great, the military isn't doing enough to protect victims and survivors, which possibly drives them to believe that using this route that preserves anonymity but prohibits prosecution is their only option. A choice between being the talk of the chow hall and healing in private while your rapist goes free is probably not a choice at all.

Anu Bhagwati, former Marine Corps captain and executive director of SWAN, notes: “This crime continues to see massive amounts of underreporting because victims do not feel the climate is safe to report, and perpetrators are not being brought to trial in sufficient numbers.” I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment of the lackadaisical approach the military takes to chasing down allegations of rape and assault.

I can't help but feel that a combination of RR and military leadership negligence enables this. The military continues to offer ways to report, but until they agree to a complete overhaul of how they conduct follow-up, including protecting rape and assault survivors, there will be no progress in lowering these staggering numbers.

We need to get underway in bringing these numbers down. Signing your name on a line to serve your country, no matter how the civilians you are serving feel about the military or war, should not separate you from your bodily autonomy or your right to have it.

If you haven't already, please sign SWAN's petition letting the DoD know that we are done allowing them to ignore this rape and sexual assault crisis. In good news, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a Senate bill on Monday requiring the military to keep more formal records in case of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment -- people are listening to your concerns.

Photo Credit: Robert Couse-Baker