Post Star: EDITORIAL: Gillibrand leads the way against military sexual assaults
A Post Star Editorial writes:
“I was assaulted. I reported it. I endured the public humiliation and the end result is that it was all for nothing,” Wilkerson’s victim said in a statement after the decision.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., hopes to change that. She continues to work toward enacting significant reforms that remove military commanders from the decision-making process when it comes to prosecuting sexual assaults.
Recent statistics reveal the military has a horrific problem on its hands. The Defense Department estimates there may be as many as 26,000 sexual assaults committed each year, and the vast majority are not reported.
CBS News reported of the 3,192 cases of sexual assault reported in 2011 that only 1,516 were “considered actionable” and only about 8 percent of those cases went to trial.
The reason is obvious. Often the person being accused of the crime is in the chain of command, or a friend of a person in the chain of command. One Air Force sergeant told the New York Times she never reported any of the assaults she suffered in her 17 years in uniform because it would be a “career-ender.”
