MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT / BLOG 2

I am truly so beyond tired of hearing about the topic of rape and sexual assault. Now, I'm aware of how insensitive that sounds. However, as a 22-year-old female college student studying Criminal Justice, I have been bombarded with information on the topic since I was 18. It's been the same information broadcasted in a different manner every year, every semester, every course. I've learned how to avoid situations that may lead to an assault, how to fend off a perpetrator, what to do if I do get assaulted and who is required to report what I tell them and so much more. It should be something that is beaten so dead by everyone and everything that it shouldn't occur anymore.

Well, it should be. That does not mean that it is.

A simple search on CNN.com brings up countless news stories on athletes particularly who have sexual assault or rape charges on them or who have recently had them dropped. Rarely are these cases proven. Rarely are these news stories anything different. It's the same old story every single time.

How is sexual assault still something that happens so frequently?

I read an article that sheds light on the positive side of this issue. How sexual assault in the US Military has dropped over the last couple of years.

In "Sharp decrease of sexual assault in military, study finds", Steven Holmes writes about how the number of sexual assault cases reported by personnel has dropped by about 27% in the last two years. The big question is always "how many cases go unreported?" and that is still too difficult to tell. The one thing that seems to be helping the cause is that there is pressure on legislation change so that the military is not in charge of prosecuting alleged sexual assaults. Bringing these issues to an “independent body” may prove to be more successful in sentences, which could have warded off the assaulting behavior.

This article title was misleading because although these numbers are the lowest since 2013, the numbers are only back down to what they were in 2010. In 2010, 19,000 persons a year or about 52 cases a day arise from unwanted sexual contact within the military.

Even though the numbers are lower than they have been, there is still a lot of work to be done. The military exercises a “no tolerance” policy and 19,000 cases a year is far, far from something that they are aiming to deal with. There needs to be more efforts put forth to lower than number even further while keeping reporting truthful.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/asia/india-rape-problem/index.html