San Jose Mercury News Editorial: Senate must pass reforms to help end epidemic of sexual assault military
The San Jose Mercury News Editorial Board writes:
The way sexual assaults are handled in the military is a disaster — even the top brass concede this point. The Associated Press provided more evidence of that this week, adding support to the bipartisan push in the Senate to take decisions about prosecuting serious crimes, including rape, outside the chain of command.
The military says it is making progress, but it is far too slow. It is long past time for serious reforms.
The AP obtained documents on hundreds of cases in Japan, the largest overseas U.S. military installation, from 2005 to 2013. The results were appalling: Only a third of convicted service members served time for their crimes, part of a system, as the AP put it, of “random and inconsistent punishment.” Over that period, victims increasingly refused to cooperate with investigators or recanted their stories, widely viewed as a sign they lacked confidence they would be treated fairly.
