Sexual assault complaints in the US Armed Forces jump 50%!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/01/military-sexual-assault-sen-claire-mccaskill/8556481/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28USATODAY+-+News+Top+Stories%29
The latest sexual assault report showed the surge in complaints was led by a spike of 86% among Marines.
There were 5,061 reports of sexual assault in fiscal year 2013, compared with 3,374 in 2012.
Reports about sexual assault range from groping to rape. Reports remain a fraction of the estimated total instances of unwanted sexual contact. The Pentagon estimated in 2012 that there were 26,000 such events. There were no similar figures on the prevalence of attacks released for 2013.
The Pentagon has been prodded by Capitol Hill, and advocates for sexual assault victims, to change the way it treats victims and prosecutes offenders. The military nearly lost a cherished privilege in the fight: preserving commanders' ability to mete out punishment and refer cases for prosecution. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., fell just short of receiving enough votes to require all such cases to be handled by career prosecutors.
The new report, she said, is alarming.
"Today's report is deeply troubling and shows the scourge of sexual assaults has not been brought under control and our current military justice system remains broken," Gillibrand said. "Since today's report does not include a total estimated number of crimes committed, it is impossible to draw any conclusions regarding the number of increased reports. The report in front of us should send chills down people's spines."
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