Sexual assault: Can the military police its own?

“When it comes to sexual assault, the military keeps finding new ways to appall us,” said Petula Dvorak in The Washington Post. Pentagon officials last week admitted that the Army’s top sexual assault prosecutor, Lt. Col. Joseph Morse, was being investigated for allegedly groping a female subordinate “at—of all places—a conference on sexual assault.” On the very same day, the Senate blocked a bill by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand requiring military rape cases to be handled by independent prosecutors rather than commanders—“a proposal strongly opposed by the Pentagon brass.” The current system is clearly not working, said the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger in an editorial. An estimated 26,000 military personnel were sexually assaulted in 2012, and 86 percent didn’t report their attacks out of fear of retaliation or punishment. Why would female soldiers report a rape to a boss “who may protect the perpetrator—or is the perpetrator?”

Actually, the military has already taken steps to prevent that problem, said Amy Davidson in NewYorker.com. Under new rules, victims no longer have to report assaults to their immediate commander, but can instead go straight to a higher-ranking officer. That makes sense. Taking rape cases out of the chain of command, on the other hand, would likely result in fewer prosecutions. Officers are motivated by a desire for discipline and order in the ranks, but prosecutors will only take “cases that they can win.” That’s why the Senate is now strengthening the existing system, said Melinda Henneberger in The Washington Post. The lawmakers this week passed a rival bill by Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill that requires a civilian board to review cases that senior officers decline to prosecute.

Still, it’s hard to believe the military can effectively police its own, said Jonathan Tobin in CommentaryMagazine.com. In scores of cases, officers have pressured subordinates to drop rape cases to spare the military from embarrassment. Now, as the Pentagon comes under increasing pressure to take action against sexual assaults, commanders might overreact and proceed with shaky cases that would never stand up in a civilian court. The less soldiers have to do with prosecuting sexual assault, “the better it may be for both the victims and the cause of justice.”

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