Military Times: Pentagon advisory panel: Strip commanders’ ability to prosecute sexual assaults
The Military Times reports:
The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, known as DACOWITS, voted on Friday to support the controversial bill that is gaining steam, albeit slowly, on Capitol Hill.
The measure would remove from the chain of command the authority to investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases, along with many other serious crimes, and hand that over to an independent office of high-ranking military lawyers.
“To ensure the strong military justice system that is essential to preventing sexual assault and other serious crimes, DoD should support legislation to remove these decisions from the chain of command and make decision-making in the military justice system more independent and impartial,” the panel recommended last week.
