US military reports major spike in sexual assaults

The army saw a rise of more than 18 per cent (file photo)
EPA
Jacob Jarvis2 May 2019

The US military has seen a spike in sexual assaults, according to a recent survey.

This has sparked outrage in Capitol Hill, after more than 20,000 service members said they experienced some type of sexual assault.

This new figure is about 37 per cent higher than two years ago, when one was last done.

"I am tired of the statement I get over and over from the chain of command: `We got this, madam, we got this.' You don't have it," Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, shouted during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Thursday held for Army General James McConville.

She added: "You're failing us."

The Pentagon releases an annual report on the number of sexual assaults reported by troops and there was a 13 per cent rise since last year’s figures.

Due to sexual assault being a highly underreported crime, the department sends out an anonymous survey every two years to get a clearer picture of the problem.

The army saw a spike of more than 18 per cent in the number of sexual assault reports filed last year, the Marine Corp had the largest jump, at 23 per cent, while the Navy saw a seven per cent increase and the Air Force was up by around four.

The increase in assaults has triggered another round of new Pentagon programmes and initiatives aimed at reducing misconduct.

Nate Galbreath, deputy director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, told reporters the latest numbers are "disheartening and it personally makes me angry”.

However, he said he's "not without hope”.

The survey found young and junior enlisted women between 17 and 20 were most likely to experience sexual assault. In most of the cases the alleged perpetrator was a military man, often near the same rank as the victim and usually someone they knew.

Mr Galbreath said the department has to reassess why prevention programmes are not working as well with younger troops and adjust those efforts to better reach them.

He deemed programmes that worked a few years ago as no longer being effective.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT