PRESS RELEASE: Protect Our Defenders Responds to Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Panel Findings That Support the Status Quo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2014 Contact: Brian Purchia, brian@protectourdefenders.com
*** PRESS RELEASE ***
PROTECT OUR DEFENDERS RESPONDS TO PENTAGON’S SEXUAL ASSAULT PANEL FINDINGS THAT SUPPORT THE STATUS QUO
Panel Fails to Confront Fundamental Flaw Perpetuating Our Broken Military Justice System – Bias and Lack of Objectivity
Washington DC – Last week, the Pentagon’s Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel released their final report on “Whether Senior Commanders Should Retain Authority to Refer Cases of Sexual Assault to Courts-Martial” — siding with the status quo instead of an independent and impartial military justice system for our brave men and women in uniform.
The original intent behind this panel was to serve as a response to the ongoing crisis of rape and sexual assault in the military, and to investigate reports of mistreatment and retaliation against victims seeking justice. The fact of the matter is that victims continue to face a biased and hostile climate, suffering retaliation and intimidation when they do come forward to report the crime. Of those few victims who bravely come forward to report the crime, 60% stated they were retaliated against.
“It should come as no surprise that a panel, handpicked by those who oppose removing the handling of these crimes from the chain of command and staffed solely by Pentagon personnel, elected to support the status quo and arrived at the conclusion they were designed to reach,” said Nancy Parrish, President of Protect Our Defenders. “This panel sadly became a tool to further delay needed reform. The fact that there was any dissent is remarkable.”
The Pentagon’s Response Panel completely missed the point—they failed to make recommendations that get to the heart of the bias and lack of objectivity perpetuating a broken military justice system. By failing to confront this fundamental flaw, crimes will continue to be ineffectively prosecuted, and cases will continue to be swept under the rug.
“At the heart of this debate are certain foundational principles of justice that are central to the identity of our nation and our citizens. These principles of equality, fairness, and blind justice should not be denied to any American simply for putting on the uniform and protecting our country, said Parrish. “It is disappointing to see this panel forgo the opportunity to finally ensure these rights are extended to our service members.”
Military leaders have enjoyed great deference from our leaders who, after being faced with decades of scandals and growing estimates of assaults within the ranks, have demonstrated an inability to effectively investigate and correct their own misconduct. Congress must remove the authority to handle these cases from the conflicted and often biased chain of command to protect service members and hold perpetrators accountable. The responsibility must be given to independent, professional prosecutors.
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About Protect Our Defenders: Protect Our Defenders is a human rights organization. We seek to honor, support and give voice to the brave women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country, and re-victimized by the military adjudication system – a system that often blames the victim and fails to prosecute the perpetrator. Learn more about Protect Our Defenders at www.protectourdefenders.com or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ProtectOurDefenders or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ProtectRDfnders.
Protect Our Defenders partners with Attorney Susan Burke, Burke PLLC to advance lawsuits filed against the DoD and service academies for repeatedly ignoring rape, sexual assault and harassment, failing to prosecute perpetrators and retaliating against the victim.
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