About 20,000 women and men in the U.S. armed forces were subject to sexual crimes this year, ranging from aggravated sexual assault to abusive sexual contact to rape. This high number of incidents marks no improvement from 2010, when practically the same number of sexual offenses occurred. ?And too few of the many victims feel they can do anything about it, says Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, leading the New York Democrat to seek changes in how complaints could be made without risk of retaliation.
Her Military Justice Improvement Act, which came up for Senate floor debate on the morning of Dec. 11, is being halted, however, and with objections from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who’s himself a military officer.
According to Huffington Post’s political reporter Sabrina Siddiqui, who tweeted updates on this morning’s Senate debate, Graham objected to bringing the bill to the floor for vote with this trivializing statement:
?This is no longer about reforming a system, this is a political cause going out of control.?
Bur rape certainly isn’t a political subject, Gillibrand says, and neither is her proposed amendment. MJIA would simply change the way allegations of sexual assault are handled in the military. Currently, only the commanding officer of the accused can decide if charges will be brought to trial. If it does go to trial, the defendant’s chain of command can control the court martial procedure, too, even in jury selection.
Over a quarter of military sex offense victims state their attacker was in their own chain of command, however, creating an obstacle in objectivity and fairness a complaint would receive. Almost two-thirds who did report say they faced retaliation after filing complaint. Half of the victims say they didn’t report the offense because they thought nothing would be done.
MJIA, an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, would simply change the complaint procedure. Instead of initiation through the accused’s commanding officer, complaints would be made directly with a military prosecutor, and the jury of any trial would not consist of anyone within the same chain of command as the complainant and defendant.
When first introducing MJIA this morning, Gillibrand said:
?The D.O.D. has failed on this issue for over 20 years now and the scandals of the last 12 months and the latest data shows that they still don’t get it.?
MJIA was first introduced in 2013 but failed to receive a needed 60 votes, and in part due to objections from Graham at that time, as well. In that initial introduction, Graham said:
?What Sen. Gillibrand is doing is way off-base.?
Gillibrand reintroduced MJIA this year as S.2292. Today, it remains untouched after a second reading. Objections to NDAA in general and its funding specifically have delayed a vote until tomorrow afternoon.
Oklahoma’s Sen. Jim Inhofe also objected to a vote on MJIA, Siddiqui tweeted.
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