Pentagon reports rising numbers of sexual assaults

Reports of sexual assault in the U.S. military have increased 46 percent since last year, according to a report published by the Pentagon earlier this month.

The report, issued Nov. 7, stated that for the first three quarters of the 2013 fiscal year, there were 3,553 reported sexual assaults in the military. The first three quarters of this year saw 46 percent more assaults than the 2,434 cases reported during the same period of time last year.

During the entirety of the last fiscal year, 3,374 sexual assaults involving service members as either victims or perpetrators were reported.

With 88 cadets enrolled in Pitt’s ROTC program, these statistics could prove to be discouraging for students hoping to serve in the military after college. This is especially true for female cadets, because women in the military report being victims of sexual assaults at higher rates than men do.

While the increase in reported cases is dramatic, observers say this could reflect an increase in the rate at which victims report crimes, a rise in the frequency of crimes or a combination of the two.

Lt. Col. David Frakt, a lawyer for the U.S. Air Force and a former Pitt professor of criminal and military law, said the rise in reported assaults shows that the military is doing a better job of handling the problem and taking these crimes seriously.

“That may be encouraging more victims to come forward, as they are seeing others who are reporting their experiences are not suffering some of the negative consequences that have been so widely advertised,” Frakt said.

Frakt said their military officials are making an effort to encourage victims of sexual assault to report their experiences.

“There is [also] a huge push to educate supervisors and commanders about the importance of taking these allegations seriously and of victims’ rights,” he said.

In 2004, the U.S. Air Force started a task force to address sexual assault within the military that later evolved into a formal program for preventing and handling cases of sexual assault. All branches of the military implemented the program soon after its creation, and now, all service members must attend classes on preventing sexual assault at least four times per year.

The U.S. Department of Defense defines sexual assault as uninvited sexual contact, unwanted touching of private body parts, rape and sodomy. The statistics contained in the reports for fiscal year 2012 and the first three quarters of 2013 include reported cases of civilians assaulting service members, service members assaulting civilians and service members assaulting other service members.

Sean Kolar joined the U.S. Army straight out of high school in North Riverside, Ill., and served for 10 years as a military policeman before deciding to go to school. He is currently in his first year at Pitt.

Kolar agreed with Frakt that the numbers reflect a greater willingness on the part of victims to report sexual assaults.

“It’s always been around,” Kolar said. “Right now it’s probably being reported more.”

Kolar explained that victims of sexual assault in the military have several choices about how to report the crime.

They can file an unrestrictive report through the chain of command and military police and then pursue legal action against the perpetrator. An unrestrictive report is the type that most closely mirrors how a civilian would report a sexual assault, said Kolar.

He said that victims also can choose to tell only a doctor, chaplain or a victim advocate, which would be classified as a restrictive report. In restrictive report cases, there is no criminal investigation, which makes it harder to include these cases in official records.

Frakt said the military is making moves to ensure that victims have multiple options.

“I guess in that sense victims within the military are somewhat better off resource-wise than a civilian victim might be,” Frakt said.

In their years within the military, both Frakt and Kolar said they knew several women who were victims of sexual assault. They said some of these victims reported the crimes and some did not.

Frakt and Kolar acknowledged the perception held by many that female service members who report being victims of sexual assault are likely to be treated negatively.

“In my view, I don’t doubt that some women who have come forward have been treated shabbily,” Frakt said. “[But] I think that those cases are the exception, rather than the norm.”

Kolar said he knew of at least three cases of sexual assault in the army, and they were handled differently based on the perceived “character” of the victims.

Those who were judged by the authorities to have “bad character” were treated in what Kolar interpreted as a more negative fashion than those who were not. Two victims he knew of accused the same perpetrator.

“It’s going to be based on the character of the person,” he said. “Both of them were known to be flirtatious or promiscuous. Their character from that standpoint didn’t really help. If they have good character and they’re not really known to do that then it won’t be negative.”

Frakt said that military victims of sexual assault, women especially, are likely to hesitate to report crimes because they fear repercussions.

“There’s a strong perception there that it will somehow be harmful to their [women’s] career if they report,” Frakt said, “that they won’t be seen as a team player or that they just won’t be believed.”

Frakt said that military officials recognize that this perception must change in order to combat sexual assault.

Pitt senior Majken Geiman, an ROTC cadet, said she cannot speak for active-duty members of the military.

Those who commit sexual assault, whether in ROTC or in the active military, Geiman said, are not accurate representations of the majority of people in the military, but of a few bad people committing many crimes.

Geiman plans to serve eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve. She is assigned to lead a platoon for an engineering unit based in Washington, D.C., after she graduates.

But Geiman said that from her experience with Pitt’s ROTC program over the last four years, the ratio of men to women may create a dangerous culture. Female cadets, Geiman said, “start out with automatically less respect.”

Many of the men in the ROTC and the military, she said, do not face such a hostile reception.

“They get used to this culture where they are on top,” Geiman added. “And they get used to being powerful and in control. They feel like they can do anything, and they feel like they deserve everything.”