Forbes: Legislators Ask President To Reform Military Law For Sex Assault Victims
Protect Our Defenders President Nancy Parrish featured in this article from Forbes:
Nancy Parish, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, said in a statement that there is no civilian equivalent to an Article 32 hearing. “[They] were originally created to function as a probable cause hearing, but have essentially become an opportunity for the defense to try the case twice,” Parish said. “Article 32 hearings are not supposed to be trials or even mini-trials, but for sexual assault cases they often end up that way.”
Though the military has evaluated possible reforms to improve the way it handles sex assault cases, it has been resistant to certain changes, particularly removing the decision to prosecute from the chain of command. There are currently two bills in Congress, one of which Speier sponsored, that would end this practice.
