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| Pentagon finds sexual assaults in m |
| Pentagon finds sexual assaults in military increase
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 8-May-2013
10:21:59 AM |
| The problem of sexual assault in the military leapt to the forefront in Washington on Tuesday as the Pentagon released a survey estimating that 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually assaulted last year, up from 19,000 in 2010, and an angry President Barack Obama and Congress demanded action.
The study, based on a confidential survey sent to 108,000 active-duty service members, was released two days after the officer in charge of sexual assault prevention programs for the Air Force was arrested and charged with sexual battery for grabbing a woman's breasts and buttocks in an Arlington, Va., parking lot.
At a White House news conference, Obama expressed exasperation with the Pentagon's attempts to bring sexual assault under control.
The bottom line is, I have no tolerance for this," Obama said in answer to a question about the survey. "If we find out somebody's engaging in this stuff, they've got to be held accountable, prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period."
The president said he had ordered Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel "to step up our game exponentially" to prevent sex crimes and said he wanted military victims of sexual assault to know that "I've got their backs."
In a separate report made public on Tuesday, the military recorded 3,374 sexual assault reports last year, up from 3,192 in 2011, suggesting that many victims continue not to report the crimes for fear of retribution or a lack of justice under the department's system for prosecution.
The numbers come as the Pentagon prepares to integrate women formally into what had been all-male domains of combat, making the effective monitoring, policing and prosecuting of sexual misconduct all the more pressing.
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