With Incidents of Violence Down & Reporting Up, McCaskill Highlights Initial Progress Curbing Sexual Assaults in the Military

Press Release

With incidents of sexual violence going down, and reporting of such crimes going up, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today delivered remarks on the Senate floor highlighting initial progress in her ongoing effort to curb sexual assaults in the U.S. military--and made the case for further reforms already included in the Senate's annual defense bill.

McCaskill championed and helped pass into law a series of sweeping, historic reforms to the military justice system over the past two years.

"The past two years have seen an historic re-write of the military justice system to better confront these crimes, empower survivors, and hold commanders accountable--and those efforts are starting to show concrete progress," said McCaskill, a former courtroom prosecutor of sex crimes. "With incidents down, reporting up, and survivors reporting more confidence in the chain of command, I believe most of my Senate colleagues are aware of the historic protections we now have in place. And I plan to keep working alongside my colleagues to aggressively track those reforms and their progress."

Initial data show concrete progress as a result of those reforms:

Incidents are dropping: the 2014 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military shows that incidents of
unwanted sexual contact dropped by 29 percent from 2012 to 2014.

Reporting is rising: the total number of reports (restricted and unrestricted) are up 11 percent from last year (5,518 in FY13 compared to 6,131 in FY14) and up 70 percent from FY12. About 1 out of 4 survivors reported in FY14, up significantly from 1 out of 10 survivors reporting in FY12, and the highest reporting rate ever. Increased reporting occurred in all categories--unrestricted reports, restricted reports, and reports that survivors converted from restricted to unrestricted.

Survivors are reporting confidence in the chain of command: 82 percent agreed that their unit commander supported them, 73 percent were satisfied with their unit commander's response, and 73 percent said they would recommend others report if they were a survivor of a sexual assault.
A controversial proposal that would replace these reforms with an alternative system was again voted down in the Senate today. That approach was opposed by McCaskill (who has cited its potential to backfire for victims) and was previously rejected by independent policy experts.

The annual defense bill currently being debated in the U.S. Senate includes additional reforms to combat sexual violence, building upon the reforms of recent years. This year's bill would, among other things: strengthen confidential reporting options for survivors; expand authority of Special Victims' Counsel; protect Special Victims' Counsel from adverse evaluations or fitness reports based solely on their advocacy for survivors; recommend commanders not prosecute for certain acts of misconduct discovered as the result of a survivor making a report of misconduct; and direct the Secretary of Defense to assess the feasibility of providing Special Victims' Counsel to civilian survivors, as well as to examine making public the results of general and special courts-martial and prescribe a consistent and regular method by all the services.

Among the more than 30 reforms already passed into law over the past two years:

Commanders have been stripped of the ability to overturn convictions, and are now held accountable under rigorous new standards.

Every survivor who reports a sexual assault now gets their own independent lawyer to protect their rights and fight for their interests--a reform that has no parallel in the civilian justice system.

Civilian review is now required if a commander decides against a prosecution in a case in which a prosecutor wants to go to trial.

Dishonorable discharge is now a required minimum sentence for anyone convicted of a sexual assault.

It is now a crime for any servicemember to retaliate against a survivor who reports a sexual assault.

The pre-trial "Article 32" process, which came under scrutiny following a case at the Naval Academy, has been reformed to better protect survivors.

The statute of limitations in these cases has now been eliminated, a particularly important development in a sustained battle against sexual assaults.

The "good soldier" defense for servicemembers accused of sexual assault has been eliminated under most circumstances.

Survivors are now allowed formal input on whether their case is tried in military or civilian court.

Sexual assault survivors are now allowed to challenge their discharge or separation from service.

The role of the prosecutor in advising commanders on going to court-martial has been strengthened.

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