Senate Bill Won't Fix The Military Sex Assault Problem

In 2012, there were 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the United States military -- and that's just the number that were reported. It is believed that there were many more that were not reported, because the victim feared retaliation or expected that nothing would be done. That's a serious and shameful problem -- and as the chart above shows, the American public knows it. A new Rasmussen Poll shows that 82% of the public says it is a serious problem.

Last year, Congress passed a bill that was a good first step in solving this problem. That bill provided an attorney for a victim, made retaliation against a victim a federal crime, required anyone convicted of sexual assault to receive a dishonorable decision, and removed the authority of military commanders to overturn a guilty verdict. But the bill stopped short of making the biggest change that needed to be made -- taking the decision on whether to take a sex assault case to trial away from military commanders (and putting it in the hands of legal professionals).

Those opposing that change said it would hurt the authority of military commanders to do their job in commanding troops. I think that's ridiculous. They would have the same authority they always had to perform the job they have been given -- to command troops and wage necessary wars. They just would no longer be put in the middle of a sexual assault case, which they have not been trained to deal with. In fact, not having to decide whether to pursue a sex assault case or not might actually help them, since they would no longer be responsible for a decision (either way) that could prove to be unpopular.

I do think, or at least I hope, that most military commanders would make good decisions on whether to prosecute a case or not. But it only takes a few rotten apples to stink up the whole barrel. And there are weak or stupid commanders who would try to cover up a sex assault instead of prosecuting it -- because they like the officer or soldier, or because they think the officer or soldier is particularly good at the job, or maybe just because they think a sex assault prosecution would look bad for them personally (making it look like they weren't a good commander). These are all things that have no place in the decision on whether to prosecute, and putting the decision in the hands of legal professionals would eliminate them.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) tried to fix this problem this year. She, along with some other senators, introduced a bill that would take this decision out of the hands of military commanders. She had majority support for the bill, but the bill was filibustered and she couldn't get the 60 votes necessary to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote (falling about 5 votes short).

Instead, the Senate, on a 97 to 0 vote, passed a much weaker bill. The bill they passed would extend last year's law to cover the military service academies, give victims some input into whether a case would be heard in a military or civilian court, and would not allow a "good soldier" defense. But this weak bill still lets military commanders make the final decision on whether a case would be prosecuted or not. In essence, the Senate argued a lot and then did virtually nothing. Commanders can (and many will) still cover up any sexual assaults that take place under their command, and there will be very little that a victim can do about it.

And I can't blame this entirely on the Republicans. The successful effort to kill the good bill (and pass a weak one) involved senators from both parties. Both Republicans and Democrats voted to keep Gillibrand's bill from reaching the Senate floor (and her bill had support from senators in both parties).

I'm sure these senators will now go back to their home states and brag that they have solved the problem of sexual assault in the military -- but they haven't, and the American people know that. That same Rasmussen Poll (taken on March 8th and 9th of 1,000 nationwide likely voters, with a margin of error of 3 points) shows that 66% (or two out of every three Americans) believe the decision on whether to prosecute a sex assault case should be taken out of the hands of military commanders.