Military Restricted Reporting Does Not Put Rapists Away

Whenever a new report on sexual assault in the military comes from the Pentagon, no doubt it can be read about on many women's rights and feminist or womanist blogs. I read how reporting is up or down, and how the Restricted Reporting option is the Best Thing Ever! to happen to women in the military who have been sexually assaulted.

I write about this because I was a military woman and still have friends who are, and I often get backlash about how I must not criticize Restricted Reporting or blame it for assisting in the culture that allows rapists to go free. This concerns me, when I know that 9 out 10 rapists are repeat offenders.

Restricted Reporting is awesome. I sat through hours of training on it when I was active duty, and answered questions about it on advancement exams. It allows a survivor of rape or sexual assault to report the crime to the proper people so that she can get medical care and counseling, while maintaining her privacy, and without requiring her to press charges. Thus, reporting a rape does not necessarily mean starting  criminal proceedings. The assailant goes free unless formal charges are filed and he or she is prosecuted in a criminal trial or courts martial. In fact, if the victim is billeted with the assailant, they may continue to work together every day.

Yes, I am fully and firmly in support of sexual assault victims being in charge of when and if they press charges. A victim is not obligated to anyone to re-open her wounds, especially when she stands the chance that she will be harshly scrutinized. Yet let's be clear: the reason that we have a Restricted Reporting option is because victims are afraid of what will happen if people, namely, military commands -- the ones they or their alleged assailants work for -- find out their identities. They are afraid of harassment or ostracization from a military culture that protects rapists and permits assault under the guise of protecting privacy and unit cohesion. Even with Restricted Reporting, the "non-identifying personal information" is easy to parse out in small, joint service commands.

To press charges when a military person is involved the victim must exchange their privacy. A victim must surrender some of the control and the safety, and I am not going to pretend that it isn't a huge deterrent for survivors when making that decision on whether or not to go forward. Privacy is important. All women should have the option to keep that privacy until they are ready to give it up. With rape it isn't about sex, it is about control, and these protections can help a victim take some of that back.

But, in the end, Restricted Reporting isn't putting rapists away, and these fun little updates only mean that women are coming forward to get care because the military is taking the tiniest of steps to help them. We are conflating stopping rapists with treating survivors, and that, combined with the fact that those that are reported probably comprise only about 10-20% of actual rapes overall, gives us a gross misunderstanding of the actual situation of sexual assault in the military.

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