Sexual assault cases increase by 25% in military schools: Pentagon

Sexual assault cases in the United States military academies saw an increase of more than 25 per cent in 2019. According to a report released by the Pentagon on January 30, during the school year of 2018-19, there were 149 sexual assaults that were officially reported to the authorities at three military academies where students prepare to become future officers. The year previous to that, there were 117 such reported cases. 

This year, since only covered sexual assault reported to the authorities, therefore, Pentagon says that it made difficult to determine if the rise in sexual assault cases was due to better reporting or if they did indeed increase than the previous years. 

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Military academies enrol 13,000 students

Every year, at least 13,000 students at three schools; the army's US Military Academy at West Point, New York, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado are asked to fill out anonymous questionnaires about sexual assaults, sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact that remained unreported including the ones that were reported. However, the Pentagon did not include the results from such questionnaires in their report. 

The West Point reportedly counted most cases with 57 sexual assaults reported while the Naval Academy had the least amount of such cases reported at 33. Meanwhile, there were 40 cases of sexual assault at the Air Force Academy. Other reports came from non-student cases. 

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According to the official release, the Executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency, Dr Elizabeth Van Winkle said, “The Department recognizes the challenge of combatting sexual assault in the Military Service Academies and the high cost of not succeeding. Our Academies produce our future leaders. At every turn, we must drive out misconduct in place of good order and discipline.”

However, as the per international reports, retired Colonel Don Christensen, former Air Force prosecutor and head of the organisation Protect Our Defenders said that the report by Pentagon is a reflection of 'what we already know'. He further added that the Pentagon has repeatedly failed to address the crisis of sexual assault gripping the ranks and as a result, 'the problem continues to grow'. Christensen also called out the military forces' lack of 'military justice reform' and not putting the cases of sexual assault 'in the hands of professionals'. 

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