Gillibrand Releases New Military Sexual Assault Report: New Data Revels high Prevalence of Assault Among Civilian Women & Military Spouses, Widening True Scope of Problem; underreporting and Distrust of Military Justice System Persist

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today released a new report on military sexual assault, finding in a review of 107 case files provided by the Department of Defense a high prevalence of sexual assault against civilian women near bases and civilian spouses of servicemembers -- two survivor groups not counted in DoD prevalence surveys -- raising new questions about the scope of both the survivor population and underreporting. The analysis reaffirms a lack of trust in the military justice system as nearly half of the survivors in the cases reviewed declined to move forward after initially filing a report. Even when cases did proceed, just over 20 percent went to trial and only 10 percent of all cases resulted in a sexual assault conviction with penalties of confinement and dishonorable discharge. The cases that did proceed to trial but failed to obtain a sexual assault conviction typically resulted in more lenient penalties, such as a reduction in rank or docked pay.

The report was compiled from data Gillibrand requested from the DoD. In February 2014, the Senator asked for all files pertaining to the investigation and adjudication of sexual assault cases from 2009 through 2013 at the largest U.S. base within each service branch. It took the DoD nearly a year to fulfill this request and even then it provided only a fraction of the information originally sought. The report reflects an analysis of 107 case files from the year 2013 at the Army's Fort Hood in Texas, Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, the Marine Corps' Base Camp Pendleton in California and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

"We requested this data to understand what happens when reports are filed, how they are investigated and move forward within the military justice system and needless to say, the more we learn, the worse the problem gets," said Senator Gillibrand. "These 107 files are a snapshot of the thousands of estimated cases that occur annually -- the latest projection for 2014 alone is 20,000 cases of sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact. What we've found are alarming rates of assault among two survivor groups not routinely counted in DoD surveys, survivors declining to move forward with their cases and very low conviction rates. Even with the much-lauded reforms, the system remains plagued with distrust and simply does not provide the fair and just process that survivors deserve."

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