Pentagon breaking a law designed to help sexual assault victims?
Is the Pentagon breaking a law designed to help sexual assault victims?
By: Geoff Ziezulewicz
The armed forces is failing to ensure that sexual assault victims are asked where they want their cases to be prosecuted, according to the results of a Defense Department Inspector General audit released last week.
Investigators reviewed 82 cases at the Armys Fort Hood, Naval Station Norfolk, the Air Forces Joint Base San Antonio and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, which recorded the highest number of unrestricted sexual assault reports in fiscal 2016.
Nearly all of those cases involved officials failing to ask the victims or document if they would prefer their assailant tried by court-martial or in the civilian criminal justice system, something they are supposed to have been doing since the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, according to the IG.
Its really disappointing when Congress is trying to get the military to a better place with sexual assault and the military leadership doesnt take it seriously, said Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel, military attorney and president of Protect Our Defenders, a nonprofit group that helped get the victim preference regulation passed into law.
more:
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/03/29/is-the-pentagon-breaking-a-law-designed-to-help-sexual-assault-victims-5/