Air Force program a rare bright spot in military’s sex assault fight
Protect Our Defenders President Nancy Parrish is featured in this article from Stars and Stripes:
Groups that advocate for sexual assault victims and have long been severe critics of the military justice system laud the program.
“The Special Victim Counsel program is a huge success,” Nancy Parrish, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, said in an email. “We praise the Air Force for leading the way by creating, and then defending the program.”
The program faced fierce opposition from defense attorneys who said the presence of SVCs in the process stacked the deck against the accused and violated the constitutional right to a fair trial. Fitzsimmons pointed out that defense lawyers have learned that when a victim wants the charges dropped, “the SVC can be your friend.”
