Ayotte Takes to Senate Floor to Push Her Bill to Stop Military Sexual Assault

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) took to the Senate floor today with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to make the case for their bipartisan legislation that adds tough new reforms to prevent military sexual assault and better support victims.

Ayotte and McCaskill, both former prosecutors who serve on the Armed Services Committee, have worked across party lines to strengthen and augment historic legislation that became law last year that puts in place a framework to better protect and empower victims of sexual assault, boost prosecutions of sexual predators, and hold military commanders accountable. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), also an Armed Services Committee member, has also worked on the McCaskill-Ayotte reforms.

"We need to hold the commanders more accountable here, we cannot allow them off the hook," said Senator Ayotte. "If we take them out of this equation then there will be less accountability. We want the chain of command to be held more accountable."

Ayotte noted the recent findings of an independent panel of experts - majority female and majority civilian - who voted overwhelmingly against stripping commanders of their ability to launch courts-martial in sexual assault cases. She also noted that in the last two years, commanders have used their authority to prosecute 93 cases after civilian prosecutors declined to pursue charges - that's 93 victims who would never have had a chance at justice if the decision to prosecute was left solely with civilian prosecutors. Additionally, Ayotte pointed out that America's allies who made this change did so to protect victims, and cannot attribute any rise in reporting of assaults to removing commanders from the process.

The McCaskill-Ayotte legislation includes a host of reforms, including:

* Eliminates the Good Soldier Defense: Modifies the Military Rules of Evidence to prevent defendants from using good military character unless it is directly relevant to an element of the crime for which they are charged.

* Allows Victim Input in Prosecution of Perpetrators: Requires Special Victims Counsels to advise victims of the advantages and disadvantages of a case being prosecuted in the military or civilian justice system and provides victims the opportunity to express their preference on where the case is heard, giving a victim a greater degree of control of his or her case.

* Allows Sexual Assault Victims to Challenge Their Discharge or Separation from Service: Requires the services to set up a confidential process that will enable a victim of a sexual assault who was subsequently discharged to challenge the terms or characterization of his or her discharge-in order to take a retrospective look at possible instances of retaliation.

* Strengthens the Role of the Prosecutor in Advising Commanders on Going to Court Martial: In the event a prosecutor recommends a case go forward and the commander disagrees, under the legislation, the case is kicked up for review to the civilian service secretary, providing yet another level of review in these cases when needed. Existing law currently requires the higher-level review only when there is disagreement between the commander and his or her legal counsel/judge advocate.

* Boosts Accountability of Commanders for Addressing Sexual Assault & Setting Appropriate Command Climate: Strengthens evaluations for commanding officers and the command climate they establish as it relates to allegations of sexual assault and the way victims of crimes are treated within the unit following reports.

* Extends Protections to the Military Service Academies: Clarifies that all changes related to sexual assault prevention and response apply to the military service academies.

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