US legislators have expressed outrage over the military justice system's failure to deal effectively with rape and sexual assault crimes, saying a system that had about 19,000 cases a year but only brought 240 to trial was not working.
Legislators also challenged military legal experts who told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that commanding generals should have the final say over verdicts by military juries, including the ability to throw out convictions and sentences, because it helped them to maintain order and discipline.
"I don't know how you can say that having 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes a year is discipline and order," Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who chaired the Senate panel, said. "It is the exact opposite of discipline and order."
The day-long hearing on sexual assault in the military followed a spate of high-profile incidents that have highlighted the issue, including a scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas in which 59 recruits were assaulted by drill instructors.
In another case at Aviano Air Base in Italy where Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkerson had his sexual assault conviction overturned by a top commander who threw out his one-year prison sentence and dismissal from the Air Force and returned him to duty. Full story...
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Legislators also challenged military legal experts who told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that commanding generals should have the final say over verdicts by military juries, including the ability to throw out convictions and sentences, because it helped them to maintain order and discipline.
"I don't know how you can say that having 19,000 sexual assaults and rapes a year is discipline and order," Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who chaired the Senate panel, said. "It is the exact opposite of discipline and order."
The day-long hearing on sexual assault in the military followed a spate of high-profile incidents that have highlighted the issue, including a scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas in which 59 recruits were assaulted by drill instructors.
In another case at Aviano Air Base in Italy where Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkerson had his sexual assault conviction overturned by a top commander who threw out his one-year prison sentence and dismissal from the Air Force and returned him to duty. Full story...
Related posts:
- Rape in the US military: America's dirty little secret...
- One in three female soldiers are raped during their US military service...
- US soldier talks about her rape by fellow-soldiers in Iraq...
- Sexual abuse in the US army 'staggering'
- "Rape in the Ranks (of the US army): The Enemy Within"
- Who is responsible for the murder of Private LaVena Johnson?
- Female soldiers more likely to be raped by fellow-soldiers than killed in action...
- Australian military officers accused of widespread sexual assault...
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