ABSTRACT
Sexual assault is a violent attack by use of force, physical threat or abuse sexually when the victim does not consent (Army Regulation 27-10). It is a constituonal right for a person to be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect for privacy. Sexual assault in the military has been like a second threat in the military. The establishment of the” Army Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program” indicate that indeed it is a threat .The organization was established so that it can fight with the threat(Editorial Board).
The anonymous survey that was conducted in 2014 by asking man and women if they had experienced unwanted sexual assault in the military, shows a certainly large drop and the failure of the pentagon and the congress to deal with it-is that the Defense Department thinks that it has really achieved something. Looking at the statistics the decrees to 19,000 in 2014 still shows that atlist a large number of the military is affected. Also the number of those who reported a sexual assault to the military forces increased to 5,983 for year 2014 from 5,518 the year before (Editorial Board 2014).
Although the number of reported cases is high, it cannot be exaggerated because the statistics shows that the number of assaults is much too high, from the number of those who report the cases. It is shown that only a small number of those who experience sexual assault are reporting them, and also an even fraction are sufficiently confident of their fair treatment in the military justice system to actually pursue an official investigation. One of the pentagon’s devastating findings is that–nearly two-thirds of those who said they experienced some form of violent response. This shows that also an injustice is been served to those who report hence result to fear of militant’s reporting the cases. Until some improvement is done in the justice department the reports will continual to be minimum than the assaults themselves (Editorial Board 2014).
The inconvenience that the victims have from reporting the cases have also been resulted from untrustworthy from the support organization. Over 26,000 service members were assaulted in 2012 but only 3,374 of those cases were reported in the military .This may have been resulted from the arrest of the air force head of Sexual Assault Prevention And Response Program, this Cleary showed that indeed some improvement needs to be done in the support organization. Also the article published by the (Washington on May 12) of the sexual misconduct and sexual assault of potential recruits’ by military recruiters adds to it all (Department Of Defense).
Despite the camping’s done, women are still the top affected by the sexual assault threat, and still it remains the most not reported crime according to2005 Department of justice (National Crime Victimization Survey) Martin, n.d).it has also been shown how individual men manipulate or exploit opportunities afforded by this overlapping contexts. Research is therefore tasked to highlight ways of addressing perpetration of sexual assault and reveal the very ordinary situations the results occur. The findings from the research will then be able to provide the starting point for public education initiatives about sexual offending (Crark Quadra, n.d)
The organization “SAPRO” is responsible for releasing the Task Force report on sexual assault in the military services. It pulls its research and reports from the CDC, DMDC, USCCR, and the white house. It oversees many studies, of which reports that are specifically directed towards sexual assault are only a part. It was charged with examining the issue of sexual assault in the military services and providing recommendations for registration and policy-making based upon their findings. The Task Force has helped decrease of the sexual assaults in the military by many ways. It is recommended by increasing funds for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs, raising standards for sexual assaults response coordinators (SARC’s), and focusing on sexual assault training (DOD 2014).
The training especially on the prevention has been the best the Task Force has done in the area of the sexual assault. It has also been proven that prevention is actually better than cure. Due to the fear and untrusted by the militants they try preventing themselves from the harm with the education offered to them by the Task Force. They also improved advocacy-allowing easier communications with victim’s advocates who will better disclose victim’s right (DOD 2014).
The culture of militant’s mechanism training of using sexism and sexual violence has also added to the threat of sexual assault. Starting in the boot camp, young soldiers are taught skills and military discipline with the use of violent and dehumanizing sexual imagery. This gives the solders the “tacit” acceptance to sexual violence. It has been counted to motivate solders to fight- but the idea is buried in the text and not pursued. This emphasizes the need for training, command accountability, effective use of sexual assault prevention and response program-and more training (Department of Defense).
