Assault at the Academy

It takes a special type of woman to join the military. The hardships that they face, although different at time from those that the men in uniform may face- are no less intense, no less challenging.

A woman in the military must be able courageous, and determined- and most importantly have a inner strength beyond anything most women can even imagine.

Knowing even a little of what our women in the military deal with daily, and the incredible bravery they have- one has to wonder just how it is that so many are being silenced. These are not weak women, and yet...

With striking regularity, sexual-assault charges at the U.S. Naval Academy are dismissed without trial and the suspects are instead expelled from school, according to an analysis of hundreds of pages of Navy documents.

Of 56 midshipmen accused of sexual assault since 1998, two have been convicted, and one of those was in a civilian court, a review by The Washington Post of Navy incident reports, case summaries and data released by the school show.

I'm disturbed by the numbers of course- but I am more disturbed by the apparent rate at which the accused has went without punishment, without a complete investigation, and without any reinforcement that their behavior is unacceptable.

Rape is rape- no matter if it happened down on Main Street in a small town, or on a military base. Are those committing the rapes any less dangerous if they come wearing uniforms and displaying medals? Is a woman offering her service to our country any less deserving of justice than the woman next door?

In August, a Pentagon task force examining sexual assault and harassment at the Naval Academy and at West Point found that the Army academy convened five courts-martial and secured three convictions in sex-related crimes over a 10-year period, the report says. The Naval Academy had one court-martial and conviction during that time.

The task force attributed the low number of prosecutions overall to the reluctance of victims to report crimes. Studies show that only about 5 percent of sexual-assault victims on college campuses report the crime. But the task force also pointed out a problem with the military rape statute: It requires proof that intercourse occurred "by force and without consent."

I have to wonder- why would the some of the bravest women in the United States not come forward? It is a case of watching others come forward only to be slighted by those in charges? It is due to harassment or fear of harassment by other enlisted persons? Someone please explain this to me.

If it is that the statute is too demanding in it's requirements, than we should start seeing more reports being made as that statue is about to change;

The most common type of sexual-assault cases reported at the academies are acquaintance rape, "which usually do not involve the use of force necessary to obtain a conviction," the task force reported. A new, expanded military statute goes into effect next year to make it easier to prosecute acquaintance rapes.

That change in law, and pressure on the academy to make its campus friendlier to women in the wake of so many critical studies, could mean more cases going to trial.

I have a huge amount of respect for those who enlist in the military- both men and women. And while it is sad that a few believe the uniforms they where allow them to rape- it's even sadder that those who should be enforcing the protection of these women are failing to do so.

WP: Sex cases rarely tried at Naval Academy - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Categories: assault, Misc