The number of sexual assaults that were reported at the U.S. military academies during the 2020-21 school year was higher than it has been in nearly 20 years.
There were 131 such cases during that school year, according to a new Pentagon report, which is up from 88 in 2019-20, though those numbers were likely smaller at least in part due to the coronavirus pandemic requiring some closures.
Dr. Nate Galbreath, the acting director of the DOD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, told reporters Thursday that the number of reported assaults in the 2019-2020 school year was on pace to reach or top the previous record of 122, which was from the year before.
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Fifty-two of the 131 reported assaults occurred at the Air Force Academy, up from 38, while 46 were from West Point, up from 23, and there were 33 from the Naval Academy.
“We would like to see every sexual assault reported so that everybody can seek care,” he said. “We know we’re a long way off from that, but that’s why our goal is to reduce how often sexual assault occurs so that there aren’t any more victims, but then, of course, we would always want to see greater reporting until that time as well, so that we can care for more folks.”
The number of reported sexual assaults from 2005, the first year the data was gathered, to 2016 topped 70 once, and that was in 2014-15. Since then, the shortened 2019-20 school year had the fewest number of reported sexual assaults.
The increased reporting of sexual assault does not necessarily mean more incidents are occurring — just that more victims have filed reports.
“We are putting all the policies in place that we can encourage greater reporting because again, greater reporting of the crime allows us to help more victims and also gives us the opportunity to hold offenders appropriately accountable,” Galbreath said.
In 2018, 15.8% of women in the academy and 2.4% of men in the academy said they experienced unwanted sexual contact in the previous year, both of which represented the highest percentages in the past ten years.
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Using the data from both the number of reported cases and the percentage of those who reported such experiences, Galbreath said there were roughly 747 sexual assaults during 2018.
Sexual assault and harassment have long been problems in the military that leaders have failed to address adequately.
Congress sought to address some of the organizational challenges in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. The changes that were included were only a partial measure for the legislators who were pushing for change. Military commanders retained their convening authority for certain crimes (sexual assault, rape, murder, and domestic violence), though it would also empower an independent “special victim prosecutor,” and this was a frustrating concession for those lawmakers.
