After a Spike in Sexual Assaults on Troops, Is Real Change on the Way?
The 2023 defense policy bill will close a prosecutorial loophole that advocates say has been preventing justice for victims of rape, harassment, and other crimes.
JENNIFER HLAD | DECEMBER 7, 2022 06:00 AM ET
Part 1 of "The Threat Within," a three-part series on sexual assault in the U.S. military.
When the Pentagon’s annual sexual-assault report landed on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s desk in September, its findings left the longtime reform advocate neither happy nor surprised: fiscal 2021 brought a sharp increase in sexual assaults, as well as other disturbing trends.
“Every year we pass meaningful reforms to improve outcomes, and the DOD is not implementing them,” Gillibrand, D-NY, told Defense One. The Pentagon, she said, “just hasn’t taken this issue seriously.”
But the Senate Armed Services Committee member said this year’s defense policy bill will bring changes that just might make future reports less bleak.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/12/after-spike-sexual-assaults-troops-real-change-finally-way/380554/
