Huffington Post: The Time Is Now for Military Justice for Assault Victims
Terry O’Neill, President, National Organization for Women, writes for the Huffington Post:
Very soon, the U.S. Senate will hold an historic vote to end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military.
The carefully crafted Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA) S.1752, introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would remove the power to decide whether to try sexual assault cases from the military chain of command and put it into the hands of an independent military prosecutor. This is essential because we know that many sexual assault survivors do not report out of a concern that they will not be taken seriously or, worse, suffer retaliation. Many assault survivors are pushed out of service, sometimes being branded has having a personality disorder. Perpetrators remain in the military to repeat offenses.
As Senator Gillibrand says, “Nowhere in America would we allow a boss to decide if an employee has been sexually assaulted, except in the U.S. military.”
