The Washington Post recently came out with an article stating
that the US military has recently begun cracking down on charging high-ranking
officers with sex crimes against their subordinates. In past years, it has been
very uncommon to see any type of high-ranking military official actually be
court-martialed for sexual crimes. This is largely due to the fact that the
military tries to protect their officers against public embarrassment and also
their unwillingness to give the military a bad name and admit to the
wrongdoings of their highest in command.
According to the article, "During the federal fiscal year
that ended Sept. 30, 116 officers of all stripes were court-martialed,
discharged or received some sort of punishment after they were criminally
investigated for sexual assault. That was more than double the number from
three years earlier, according to Defense Department figures." This “unofficial
taboo” against putting high-ranking officials on trial to own up to their
sexual offenses was broken three years ago when Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair was
prosecuted by the Army on charges of forcible sodomy, adultery, and various
other offenses. This was a very rare case at the time because only three times
in 60 years had the Army court-martialed a general for any type of offense.
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair
The article goes on to describe in depth several other cases
within different factions of the US military where high-ranking officials have
recently been charged with sexual offenses, whereas they never would have been
previously. The article states how the military is stepping up their game as
far as expanding sexual assault awareness training, bolstering support for
victims, required command-level review of all investigations, and taking sexual
assault allegations more seriously. While it is great that US military is finally
starting to address some of these problems in a more serious capacity, it is
also quite unsettling to realize how common and frequent these sexual assault incidences
are within the highest ranks of the military. These are the people that are
supposed to be protecting us. Some of the stories that the article delves into
show really how serious these offenses are, and even more so because the
victims of these sexual crimes are terrified to speak up because the
perpetrators are their bosses and are some of the most highly respected people
in the entire US military. That being said, I do think it is good that these
issues are finally being brought to light and are being dealt with in the way
that they should have been dealt with in the first place.
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i think its great that the military is finally starting to deal with issues of sexual assault instead of basically shoving the issue under the rug and pretending like it never happens. I agree that its completely disheartening to see so many incidents of sexual misconduct in the military, especially involving the men our nation sees as the top-of-the-line. Just because these men have been well-respected, however, absolutely does not give them the right to commit such acts and get away without any consequences.
ReplyDeleteI thought the graph the article showed comparing the number of enlisted troops who committed sexual assault vs. officers who committed sexual assault was also unsettling. Granted, the military is quite large, but those numbers still pop out at me. It makes me sad to think that these are some of the people fighting for our country and who we put faith in to represent us elsewhere, yet they are getting away with such gross behavior.
Some of the specific incidents the story goes into also made me cringe, especially the one where a Captain was pressuring a female officer to have sex to advance her career. Though stories like this are messed up, I am happy that something is finally being done about it. Maybe with this new push to punish those who are guilty of sexual misconduct in the military will, in time, begin to bring down the numbers and end the stigma.