Baltimore Sun: Naval Academy says increase in sex assault reports shows progress
Protect Our Defenders Nancy Parrish is featured in this Baltimore Sun article:
The drop in reports at the academies runs counter to the recent militarywide trend of increased reporting — a trend that officials have said indicates a growing trust in the military justice system.
Nancy J. Parrish, president of the victim advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, expressed concern. “That number is going in the wrong direction,” she said.
At the Naval Academy, eight of the 15 reports involved an alleged attack by one midshipman on another. The rest either predated the alleged victim’s arrival at the academy or were perpetrated by someone other than a midshipman.
Cmdr. John Schofield, an academy spokesman, said the year-over-year increase in reports “indicates that we are successfully cultivating a climate where victims feel safe reporting assaults.”
