Military justice 'broken', say sexual assault survivors at Senate hearing

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Military justice 'broken', say sexual assault survivors at Senate hearing

Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing into sexual abuse in US military is the first such hearing in over a decade

Karen McVeigh in New York
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 March 2013 15.52 EDT

The military justice system is broken, riven with inherent bias, conflicts of interest and a hierarchical structure that ensures perpetrators go unpunished, survivors of military sexual assault told Congress on Wednesday.

At the first Senate hearing into sexual abuse in the armed forces for a decade, victims said the system helped encourage predators in uniform, and urged senators to change the law to give survivors the same protections as civilians – namely an independent justice system.

Rebekah Havrilla, a former army sergeant who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being raped by another service member while in Afghanistan, told the Senate armed services committee that she found a "broken" criminal justice system.

Havrilla, who described an interview during the military investigation into her case as being the "most humiliating thing that I have ever experienced", said it was eventually closed after senior commanders decided not to pursue charges.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/13/senate-sex-assault-military-hearing

[DeSwiss]

1. The whole thing's broken. K&R n/t

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

It sure is.

[Ash_F]

3. It is sad that 'men' choose to perpetuate these crimes with their unmitigated cowardice.

Why do they let these things go? Choose to hear no evil, so no evil. Keep your head low and your eyes to the ground. Keep walking and don't rock the boat.


Cowardice.


Meanwhile, only those with the courage to speak out get punished, then defamed by the right wing media and half of DU.

[annm4peace]

4. I really hope something comes from this

I know one woman gang raped by her fellow soldiers and met other women veterans who had either been sexually harassed or raped. One ended up in the brig because she refused to go back to Afghanistan with her commanding officer who was her abuser.

I remember in 2005 when retired Col. Ann Wright said that no female should go into the military at this time because 1 in 3 of women in the military were assaulted and it wasn't getting any better.

[alp227]

5. Exactly, not to mention the Commander's Veto of a jury too!

That's a Kangaroo Court procedure right there!

[davidpdx]

6. The military needs to do more to investigate and punish those who sexual assault others

As I've said before, I have a classmate working on a doctorate and her dissertation will be about sexual assault in the military. She's a 20 year Navy vet and feels very strongly that changes need to be made. We can only hope continued pressure will force change.

[justiceischeap]

7. I think the problem is that the investigation is in the military's hands at all

I think it has been pretty well proven that on the issue of sexual violence in the military, the military is not doing a good job policing itself. It's hard enough in a non-military justice system for rape victims to get proper justice but it seems near impossible for it to happen within the military because as it was pointed out in the article, if a commander pursues a rapist within his or her unit, that then reflects poorly on the commander.

[politicat]

8. the most important thing the Senate has done in a very long time...

This should be what we, at DU, and we, as a nation, and we, as citizens are talking about.

K&R