QuoteWASHINGTON, D.C. â€" Yesterday, the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) published the Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. The 622 page report details sexual assaults from each branch of the service for fiscal year 2010. The numbers indicate that cases of rape and sexual assault have not decreased, and that the military is no closer to ending this crisis in the ranks.
In FY2010, there were 3,158 total reports of sexual assault in the military. The DOD estimates that this number only represents 13.5% of total assaults in 2010, making the total number of military rapes and sexual assaults in excess of 19,000 for FY 2010.
“This latest report clearly shows that the military’s response to rape and sexual assault within its own ranks has been both inadequate and ineffective,†said Anu Bhagwati, former Marine Corps captain and executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network.
“This crime continues to see massive amounts of underreporting because victims do not feel the climate is safe to report, and perpetrators are not being brought to trial in sufficient numbers.â€
http://www.sapr.mil/
QuoteSAPRO is the organization responsible for the oversight of Department of Defense (DoD) sexual assault policy. The Department of Defense is committed to the prevention of sexual assault. The Department has implemented a comprehensive policy to ensure the safety, dignity and well being of all members of the Armed Forces. Our men and women serving throughout the world deserve nothing less, and their leaders â€" both Military and civilian â€" are committed to maintaining a workplace environment that rejects sexual assault and reinforces a culture of prevention, response and accountability.
Quote from: BridgeTroll on April 11, 2011, 02:46:11 PM
http://www.sapr.mil/
QuoteSAPRO is the organization responsible for the oversight of Department of Defense (DoD) sexual assault policy. The Department of Defense is committed to the prevention of sexual assault. The Department has implemented a comprehensive policy to ensure the safety, dignity and well being of all members of the Armed Forces. Our men and women serving throughout the world deserve nothing less, and their leaders â€" both Military and civilian â€" are committed to maintaining a workplace environment that rejects sexual assault and reinforces a culture of prevention, response and accountability.
No doubt as effective as BRAC!
You can have all the oganizations you want..........if they do not do any enforcement of what they are supposed to watch, they are absolutely useless:
Representative Speier on the House Floor:
QuoteI rise today to speak about an abomination, and I vow to speak about it every week until this Congress and this administration, does something more than offer lip service.
Read my lips, the military must end rape in this country. And those who commit such crimes must be brought to justice, the fact that women are being raped and our government is turning a blind eye is disturbing enough. Even worse, it is not our enemies abroad that are committing these horrific crimes, it's American soldiers abusing many of our own, often with nothing more than a slap of on the wrist and sometimes with an unbelievable promotion.
We have a military culture that condones and sometimes rewards this kind of abusive and violent behavior against female soldiers, who are now more likely to be raped by fellow soldiers than killed by enemy fire.
This is a national disgrace and the longer it goes on unaddressed, Congress becomes an accomplice in these crimes.
You know we in Congress do something really well, we hold hearings and then we do nothing.
Congress has held 18 hearings in the last 16 years on this issue and nothing has changed.
The Department of Defense estimates that over 19,000 servicemembers were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010. But due to fear of retribution and failure to prosecute these crimes only 13.5% are reported. These are Department of Defense figures. 19,000 soldiers raped in the military every year.
So beginning today I'm going to tell these women's stories on the House floor, and I"m going to keep telling them and keep telling them until something is done about it.
Earlier this year, 17 servicemembers, 15 of them women, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government, accusing the Pentagon of ignoring their own cases of sexual assault.
Representative Speier said...
QuoteThis is a national disgrace and the longer it goes on unaddressed, Congress becomes an accomplice in these crimes.
You know we in Congress do something really well, we hold hearings and then we do nothing.
Congress has held 18 hearings in the last 16 years on this issue and nothing has changed.
Clearly it HAS been addressed... and it is continually addressed... and things have changed. Is it perfect? Nope.
Below is the history of SAPRO, and sexual assault guidelines.
QuoteIn February of 2004, the former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld directed Dr. David S. C. Chu, the former Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, to review the DoD process for treatment and care of victims of sexual assault in the Military Services (Memorandum).
The Department quickly assembled the Care for Victims of Sexual Assault Task Force, led by Ms. Ellen Embrey, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health, Protection, and Readiness, and charged the task force to report back in 90 days with recommendations (Task Force Report for Care of Victims of SA). Following a comprehensive review, the Task Force released a series of recommendations in April 2004.
One of the recommendations emphasized the need to establish a single point of accountability for sexual assault policy within the Department. This led to the establishment of the Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, and the naming of then Brigadier General K.C. McClain as its commander in October 2004.
The Task Force focused its initial efforts on developing a new DoD-wide sexual assault policy that incorporated recommendations set forth in the Task Force Report on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault as well as in the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (PL108-375). This act directed the Department to have a sexual assault policy in place by January 1, 2005.
In January 2005, DoD presented to Congress a comprehensive policy on prevention and response to sexual assault, found here. The policy provides a foundation for the Department to improve prevention of sexual assault, significantly enhance support to victims and increase reporting and accountability.
The Task Force and the Military Services collaborated closely to ensure the rapid and effective implementation of this policy. In 2005, the Task Force provided instruction to more than 1,200 sexual assault response coordinators (SARCs), chaplains, lawyers, and law enforcement to create a cadre of trained first responders. In addition, the Military Services trained more than 1,000,000 Service members and established sexual assault program offices at all major installations.
The overarching elements of sexual assault prevention and response policy became permanent with the approval of DoD Directive 6495.01, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Policy, in October 2005. The Task Force began transitioning into a permanent office that same month.
The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) now serves as the Department’s single point of authority for sexual assault policy and provides oversight to ensure that each of the Service’s programs complies with DoD policy. It quickly obtained approval of DoD Instruction 6495.02, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program Procedures, making permanent all elements of the Department’s sexual assault policy. In addition, it conducted a training conference for all SARCs.
SAPRO, under the leadership of Director Kaye Whitley, continues to lead the Department’s effort to transform into action its commitment to sexual assault prevention and response. This undertaking enjoys the support of leaders at all levels, and it will create a climate of confidence and trust where everyone is afforded respect and dignity.
Quote from: BridgeTroll on April 11, 2011, 03:05:26 PM
Representative Speier said...
QuoteThis is a national disgrace and the longer it goes on unaddressed, Congress becomes an accomplice in these crimes.
You know we in Congress do something really well, we hold hearings and then we do nothing.
Congress has held 18 hearings in the last 16 years on this issue and nothing has changed.
Clearly it HAS been addressed... and it is continually addressed... and things have changed. Is it perfect? Nope.
Quotemore than 1,200 sexual assault response coordinators (SARCs), chaplains, lawyers, and law enforcement to create a cadre of trained first responders. In addition, the Military Services trained more than 1,000,000 Service members and established sexual assault program offices at all major installations.
The overarching elements of sexual assault prevention and response policy became permanent with the approval of DoD Directive 6495.01, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Policy, in October 2005. The Task Force began transitioning into a permanent office that same month.
The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) now serves as the Department’s single point of authority for sexual assault policy and provides oversight to ensure that each of the Service’s programs complies with DoD policy. It quickly obtained approval of DoD Instruction 6495.02, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program Procedures, making permanent all elements of the Department’s sexual assault policy. In addition, it conducted a training conference for all SARCs.
SAPRO, under the leadership of Director Kaye Whitley, continues to lead the Department’s effort to transform into action its commitment to sexual assault prevention and response. This undertaking enjoys the support of leaders at all levels, and it will create a climate of confidence and trust where everyone is afforded respect and dignity.
.........and things have changed? Even SAPRO's own report indicates that nothing has changed in terms of reducing the heinous incidence of rape:
From what started this thread:
QuoteWASHINGTON, D.C. â€" Yesterday, the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) published the Department of Defense Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. The 622 page report details sexual assaults from each branch of the service for fiscal year 2010. The numbers indicate that cases of rape and sexual assault have not decreased, and that the military is no closer to ending this crisis in the ranks.
QuoteThe military has to move beyond the "boys will be boys" attitude that has allowed a culture of preying on women to flourish in the military. The rates of rape in military setting are nowhere near what anyone should consider an acceptable level of risk. The overwhelming majority of these are within the ranks, not "enemy assaults." With the military's tightly controlled population, traditions of strict discipline it's perfectly reasonable to expect assaults to be lower in a military environment than in civilian life.
One wonders what sort of more ordinary day-to-day indignities our women in uniform must suffer in an environment where the crime of rape is too often not taken seriously?
QuoteThe failure to provide a basic guarantee of safety to women, who now represent 15% of the armed forces, is not just a moral issue, or a morale issue. What does it say if the military can't or won't protect the people we ask to protect us?
From:
Sexual Assaults on Female Soldiers: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
By NANCY GIBBS Monday, Mar. 08, 2010
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968110,00.html#ixzz1JFBxcRh4
Local story on the shameful number of rapes in the military:
Published Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Rape in Military: Where's the justice?QuoteWhat do U.S. women in Iraq and Afghanistan have in common with women in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
The answer?
Both are at risk of being raped by men in uniforms.
Like their Congolese counterparts - women who continue to be brutally and systematically violated by government soldiers and rebel militias involved in a six-year conflict - American women are also being victimized by fighting men.
Unlike the Congolese women and their attackers, however, the U.S. women and their violators are supposed to be on the same side.
At least that's what Dawn Leamon thought.
Leamon, a paramedic, came to Iraq to work for U.S. contractor Kellogg Brown Root.
She recently told a Senate Foreign Relations panel headed by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that two months ago, a U.S. soldier and a KBR co-worker sexually assaulted her at a base near Basra.
And Leamon isn't alone.
According to Defense Department records, in 2006, nearly 3,000 alleged incidents of sexual assault within the ranks were reported. The numbers dropped to 2,688 last year.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, recently wrote that doctors at a veteran's health care center in Los Angeles said that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there reported that they were sexually assaulted while in the military.
That crisis is apparently spilling over into the realm of civilian contracting. Yet, the department has been slow to prosecute such cases.
The federal government also hasn't tried any rape cases involving civilian women such as Leamon. On top of that, many women are still hesitant to come forward for fear of reprisals from superior officers or bosses.
This must change.
While the sexual assaults of U.S. women in Iraq and in Afghanistan by fellow soldiers and co-workers don't approach the level of atrocity being suffered by Congolese women at the hands of uniformed men, what's common to both situations is a conspiracy of silence that feeds such attacks.
And while the intensity and origins of the sexual assaults differ, the pain and dehumanization are just as powerful.
For his part, Nelson is pressing for answers on pursuing sexual assault cases that involve private contractors in war zones, while Harman is pushing for more congressional oversight into sexual assault within the ranks. That's a start.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/042908/opi_273131078.shtml
Here is the actual report...
http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/reports/DoD_Fiscal_Year_2010_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf
QuoteThe sexual assaults reported to the Department
include a broad spectrum of offenses ranging from rape to wrongful sexual contact,
which are addressed by Articles 120,125, and 80 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
(UCMJ). In FY10, the Military Services received a total of 3,158 reports of sexual
assault involving Service members, which reflects a 2-percent decrease in overall
reporting from FY09. Despite the small decrease in total reports this year, the trend over
the previous 3 years shows that more victims are coming forward to report sexual
assault than when the SAPR Program was launched in 2005.
BT, SWAN is nor impressed after 6 years of SAPR:
Also from SWAN,
Along with the Annual Report, the DOD also released its 2010 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members, which surveys service members every two years about sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. This report indicates that the military’s climate of fear and intimidation around sexual assault reporting still exists.
The survey reveals that:
67% of women are “uncomfortable†with reporting
54% “fear reprisalâ€, and
46% of both men and women in the military believe that sexual assault was “not important enough†to report at all.
Quote from: FayeforCure on April 11, 2011, 10:06:08 PM
BT, SWAN is nor impressed after 6 years of SAPR:
Also from SWAN,
Along with the Annual Report, the DOD also released its 2010 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members, which surveys service members every two years about sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. This report indicates that the military’s climate of fear and intimidation around sexual assault reporting still exists.
The survey reveals that:
67% of women are “uncomfortable†with reporting
54% “fear reprisalâ€, and
46% of both men and women in the military believe that sexual assault was “not important enough†to report at all.
Clearly there is still work to do eh? Comparing our soldiers and army to Congolese rebel militia men is nothing more than sensationalism. It is over dramatic and counter productive. The issue is being addressed aggressively by DOD. Read the actual report Faye.
http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/reports/DoD_Fiscal_Year_2010_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf
BT, here i something that can be done:
QuoteLawmakers To Introduce Bill To Expand Legal Rights, Protections To Military Victims Of Sexual Assault
Posted: 04/12/11 05:59 PM ET
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stumble WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers will introduce a bipartisan bill Wednesday that for the first time would provide expanded legal rights and protections for service members who have been the victims of sexual assault while serving in the military.
The Defense STRONG (Sexual Trauma Response, Oversight and Good Governance) Act comes at a time when the Pentagon is being sued for turning a blind eye -- or not doing enough -- to combat sexual misconduct in the military.
A growing number of women soldiers are returning home as victims of sexual trauma inflicted on them by their own comrades in arms. Recent studies reveal that as many as one in three women leaving military service report they have experienced some form of military sexual trauma, or MST. But the Pentagon estimates that as few as 13.5 percent of sexual assaults are reported. And while 40 percent of sexual assault allegations in the civilian world are prosecuted, just 8 percent of similar allegations are brought to justice in the military.
The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), would provide victims with the right to legal counsel and the right to transfer to another base. It also would allow them to maintain confidentiality when speaking with victim advocates. In addition, the bill would mandate increased training on sexual assault prevention for troops.
BT, are they working on it aggressively enough if it was your daughter who was assaulted?
QuoteAdvocates for women in the military have applauded the legislation, but its fate remains uncertain in a Republican-dominated House consumed with the fight over the federal budget.
“Military rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment are at a crisis point, posing a significant threat to military personnel, mission readiness and national security,†said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain who heads SWAN, the Service Women’s Action Network. “Despite decades of trying, the military has failed to implement policies to protect service members or to defend the basic rights of survivors. With 19,000 service members assaulted last year, there is an immediate need for this crucial legislation,†she said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/expanded-legal-protections-victims-military-sexual-assault_n_848343.html
Have you actually read the report yet Faye?
http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/reports/DoD_Fiscal_Year_2010_Annual_Report_on_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf
When I was in the military, I remember attending technical school in San Antonio and being put off by the frat house atmosphere. Leadership gave lip service to rules and regulations, but often looked the other way when it came to 18 and 19-year old young men and women engaging in behavior that leads to assaults (underage drinking, parties in dorm rooms, sleeping in opposite sex dorm rooms). I would not be surprised if assaults went unreported while I was there. It is a shame, but it is reality.
Quotewhen it came to 18 and 19-year old young men and women engaging in behavior that leads to assaults (underage drinking, parties in dorm rooms, sleeping in opposite sex dorm rooms).
Only Faye is shocked by this...
Quote from: BridgeTroll on April 13, 2011, 08:50:58 AM
Quotewhen it came to 18 and 19-year old young men and women engaging in behavior that leads to assaults (underage drinking, parties in dorm rooms, sleeping in opposite sex dorm rooms).
Only Faye is shocked by this...
No BT, I am shocked at the lack of prosecution and therefor the lack of justice in these cases and MOSTLY the cavalier attitude towards this horrendous crime!!
Sadly, the fear of reprisal for reporting this crime is still too great!
Like Jaxson says, it's all that "lip service to rules and regulations," but often looking the other way.
That cavalier attitude regarding crimes upon our Service Women needs to change.
Quotewhile 40 percent of sexual assault allegations in the civilian world are prosecuted, just 8 percent of similar allegations are brought to justice in the military.