U.S. News Weekly: Should Commanders Deal With Sexual Assaults?
US News Weekly interviews Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:
The Senate is taking on the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. Proponents of keeping investigations within the chain of command say it ensures accountability. Opponents say the current system discourages victims from coming forward.
By Sen. Carl Levin, Democrat from Michigan
Yes. The debate over legislation to address sexual
assault in the military should have one goal:
crafting the strongest, most effective protections
for our troops against this plague…The committee adopted an alternate approach,
one I sponsored with a bipartisan group of senators. Our
approach offers stronger protections for sexual assault victims
and is likely to result in more prosecutions than the
proposal to remove commanders’ authority.
Under our approach, if a commander decides not to
move forward with a prosecution following a sexual assault
allegation, that decision is automatically reviewed by
a higher commander.By Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Democrat from New York
No. The crisis of sexual violence in our military
is not new. For more than 20 years military
leadership has pledged “zero tolerance”
again and again. Yet the Pentagon estimates there were
26,000 cases of sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact
last year alone, a 37 percent increase from the previous
year. Of those, a mere 3,374 were reported, and just
302 went to trial. This is unacceptable, and fundamental
change is long overdue to solve an epidemic that military
leadership has failed to solve on its own.
