(Washington, D.C.) Today, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced several measures to deal with sexual assault in the military, which include providing legal advice and representation to sexual assault victims, oversight of status of complaints by a general/flag officer, and follow-up investigations by the inspector general on sexual assault cases that have been closed.
The following is a statement by Nancy Duff Campbell, Co-President of the National Women's Law Center:
"The Pentagon's measures provide some improvements in combatting sexual assault in the ranks, but they don't go far enough. By keeping the decision-making on whether and how to prosecute sexual assault within the chain of command — instead of transferring it to experienced military prosecutors — these measures fail to address an inherent conflict of interest that discourages service members from even reporting incidents of abuse. That's why we support Senator Gillibrand's proposal to transfer the handling of sexual assault outside the chain of command and into the hands of military prosecutors. Our service members deserve an approach that will succeed in tackling this insidious problem."
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