US
Pentagon Releases Annual Report on Sexual Assaults in Service Academies
Author: Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN)
Published on Dec 28, 2011 - 7:07:18 AM

New York, NY December 28, 2011 – Today, the Service Women's Action Network issued a statement on the newly released Department of Defense (DOD) annual "Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies." The report reveals a 58.5% increase from the last academic year, and further shows that the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point was found to be "not in compliance" with the DOD's sexual assault prevention policy.

"This report is shocking," said Greg Jacob, policy director for the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN). "An increase of nearly 60% in reported sexual assaults at the academies is horrifying, but to see that the academies are failing to implement and enforce DOD policy that would prevent them is outrageous and inexcusable."

"The leadership at the Academies must be held directly accountable for this failure," Jacob said.

In 2009, the Pentagon developed a sexual harassment and sexual assault prevention policy for the military academies that consists of 5 prevention priorities. The first priority is to "Institutionalize Prevention Strategies in the Military Community", and this is where the U.S. Military Academy at West Point received its failing grade. The report also revealed that in addition to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy were only in partial compliance with other parts of the DOD policy.

"Military Service Academies (MSAs) are similar to civilian universities and colleges in their student demographics, but in other ways they are unique," Jacob said. "The vast majority of Generals and Admirals in the military came from service academies, and these are the same officers and commanders who are in charge of developing, implementing and enforcing sexual harassment and assault policies in today's military. Ending the widespread issue of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military starts by ending it at the service academies."

According to DOD reports, in 2010 there were 19,000 sexual assaults in the military, with only 13.5% reported to authorities. Other studies indicate that up to 90% of U.S. military troops had experienced some type of sexual harassment.

SWAN is currently working on further analysis of the 2011 report and will be updating its fact sheet, "Military Academies: Rape, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Harassment." The fact sheet for academic year 2010 can be found here:
http://servicewomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Service-Academy-Report-2011-PDF.pdf

The 2011 DOD "Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies" can be found here:
http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/reports/FINAL_APY_10-11_MSA_Report.pdf

SWAN is a national human rights organization founded and led by women veterans. SWAN's vision is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without threat of harassment, discrimination, intimidation or assault. SWAN also seeks to reform veterans' services on a national scale to guarantee equal access to quality health care, benefits and resources for women veterans and their families. You can follow Service Women's Action Network on Twitter at http://twitter.com/servicewomen, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/servicewomen.

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