[ OUR OPINION ]
Air Force report urges
better policy on sex assault
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Pentagon officials became aware of the seriousness of the problem last year, when the secretary of the Air Force received an e-mail from an Air Force Academy cadet complaining that it had been ignored. The Denver Post later reported that thousands of rapists in the military had gone unpunished.
Gen. William Begert, commander of the Pacific Air Forces, soon conducted an assessment of the problem is his own command. At least 92 complaints of sexual assault involving Air Force personnel under his command, including 11 at Hawaii's Hickam Air Force Base, were made from 2001 to 2003.
A 96-page report issued by the Air Force this week concludes that many more went unreported. Research has indicated that 95 percent of sexual assaults are not reported by victims on college campuses, with whom military personnel share many traits, such as similar age range, being away from a structured home environment, often for the first time, and being under an administrator's authority.
"Stigma, shame and embarrassment are common reporting barriers," according to the report. "The belief that everyone in a victim's unit would know about a sexual assault and view the victim through a filter colored by this knowledge is a significant factor in many decisions not to report."
Other barriers are "a victim's fear of disciplinary action" associated with the allegation, such as underage drinking, adultery, fraternization and being in restricted areas.
In one case, the report says, a senior enlisted woman said she would never report a sexual assault to her commander because "he thinks I'm a super troop" and would never hold her in the same regard once he saw her as a victim.
A unique impediment to justice in the military is the small degree of confidentiality and protection afforded to victims of sex crimes. As a Pentagon report explained three months ago, "reconciling the inherent tension between a victim's need for confidentiality and a commander's need to know is very challenging and requires substantial additional work to resolve."
The Air Force report reiterated that "commanders are responsible and accountable for the health, well-being and safety of their personnel at all times. This duty does not expire at the end of the workday or the beginning of the weekend."
The report recommends a reporting system "balancing the victim's need for privacy/confidentiality, the commander's responsibility for maintaining good order/discipline and law enforcement's mandate to investigate every crime that is committed." That will require an extraordinary balancing act.
