Reports of Sexual Assault in the Military Rise by 10 Percent, Pentagon Finds
Reports of Sexual Assault in the Military Rise by 10 Percent, Pentagon Finds
A Marine Corps drill instructor addressing female recruits during boot camp. The Marine Corps had almost a 15 percent increase in sexual assault reports in the last fiscal year. Credit Scott Olson/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — More than 6,700 Defense Department employees reported being sexually assaulted in the 2017 fiscal year — the highest number since the United States military began tracking reports more than a decade ago, according to Pentagon data released on Monday.
The new data showed a 10 percent increase of military sexual assault reports from the previous fiscal year. The uptick occurred amid a Marine Corps scandal over sharing nude photos and heightened public discourse about sexual harassment in American culture. Pentagon officials sought to portray the increase as reflective of more troops and military civilians trusting commanders and the military’s judicial system enough to come forward.
In all, 6,769 people reported assaults for the 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. It was the largest yearly increase since 2014 and the most reports since the Pentagon started tracking the data in 2006.Roughly two-thirds of the reports resulted in disciplinary action, the data show. The remaining 38 percent were discounted because evidence was lacking, victims declined to participate in hearings or other reasons. The Army, Navy and Air Force each saw a roughly 10 percent uptick in sexual assault reports. The increase nearly reached 15 percent in the Marine Corps.Separately, roughly 700 complaints of sexual harassment were reported across the military in the 2017 fiscal year, according to the Pentagon data. Ninety percent of the reports were from enlisted troops.
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Lawmakers have long hammered the military on its predominantly male culture and have sometimes lobbied for military courts to be civilian run so due process is absent of command influence. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who last week called sexual assault a “cancer” in the military, has demanded that leaders throughout the ranks make sure the problem does not spread.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/us/politics/sexual-assault-reports-military-increase.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/30/politics/dod-sexual-assault-report-2017/index.html
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/military-sexual-assault-reports-rose-in-2017-for-the-seventh-year-in-a-row.html