Reducing Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the US Military
Embargo until
Date
2020-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The US military consists of 1.3 million Service members. Despite numerous reforms in the military’s treatment of sexual assaults of Service members, recent data suggests that the problem persists at disturbing rates. The successful investigation, prosecution, and conviction of offenders remain significantly low. While the Pentagon is not ignoring the problem, the changes failed to reduce the incident rate of sexual assault and brought little progress in increasing reports and holding offenders criminally liable. Following several highly publicized sexual assault cases and media buzz, the problem received scrutiny from legislators. This capstone proposes a policy to reduce sexual violence by professionalizing how the military prosecutes serious crimes like sexual assault and removing command authority.
Description
Keywords
sexual assault, command authority, Military Justice Improvement Act