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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenate Blocks Military Sexual Assault Legislation (for the SECOND TIME this year!)
Senate Blocks Military Sexual Assault Legislation
The Senate denied a vote for the Military Justice Improvement Act yesterday, blocking the act for the second time this year. A bipartisan group of senators approached the senate floor yesterday to push for the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), spearheaded by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), but it failed to come to a vote. Gillibrand was hoping the Act would be added as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, but said that she will push for it as a stand-alone bill, and is even prepared to urge President Obama to take executive action. The bill would combat recently released data from a Pentagon report showing little progress over the past year in preventing sexual assault in the military by making it easier for survivors to report assault and eliminating retaliation for those who do report. The bill fell short of being passed by only five votes earlier this year.
The MJIA would move the decision to prosecute military sexual assault outside the chain of command and give it to trained, independent professional military prosecutors. The Department of Defense has failed on this issue for over 20 years now, Senator Gillibrand said yesterday, and the data shows they still dont get it. She continued Why should our service members enjoy a lesser standard of justice and fairness than you and I, whose freedoms they risk everything to protect?
The need for reform was emphasized by Col. Don Christensen (Ret.), former Chief Prosecutor of the Air Force, who called the current process an ineffective, broken system of justice, that undermines the military I love. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) agreed, saying What were doing now is not working.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who led the objection to the bill, said he feared that it would undermine the authority of commanders in the military, although Sen. Gillibrand clarified that this bill would only affect the top 3 percent of commanders.
http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/12/12/senate-blocks-military-justice-improvement-act-2/
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Senate Blocks Military Sexual Assault Legislation (for the SECOND TIME this year!) (Original Post)
niyad
Dec 2014
OP
jwirr
(39,215 posts)1. Maybe women will have to boycott the military. Let the boys play by themselves. And somehow
we are to believe that they do not do this to the women of the countries we send them to. This is ridiculous.
niyad
(112,432 posts)2. obscene is the word that comes to my mind, along with despicable, horrendous, evil. .