Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military: Trends and Responses

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.228
• Author: David J. Armor,Jill A. Rough
• Date: 01 June 2017
• Published date: 01 June 2017

Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military: Trends and

Responses

Jill A. Rough and David J. Armor

Sexual assault is without doubt one of the most pressing issues confronting the U.S military today.

The Department of Defense (DoD) acknowledges that sexual assault is a crime “incompatible with

military service” and seeks to establish an environment where sexual assault is not tolerated,

condoned, or ignored. Yet questions persist over exactly how much progress DoD has made toward

this goal. This paper reviews trends in the prevalence of sexual assault within the U.S. military,

assesses how rates of sexual assault in the military compare to civilian rates, and then examines

what the military has done to confront the problem and how it might improve such efforts.

KEY WORDS: sexual assault, bystander training, prevalence

Introduction

Sexual assault is without doubt one of the most pressing issues confronting

the U.S military today. President Obama characterized sexual assault in the U.S.

military as “a corrosive problem” that violates the values of the armed forces,

destroys trust among troops, and undermines military readiness (The White

House, 2013).

Indeed, recent sexual assault scandals in the military have generated prominent

headlines, with some incidents involving senior off‌icers and those responsible for

preventing or responding to sexual assault in the military. In 2013, an Air Force

General overturned a sexual assault conviction, the off‌icer in charge of the Air

Force’s sexual assault prevention program was arrested for sexual battery, and a

major rape scandal occurred at the Naval Academy (Shapira, 2013; Shin, 2013;

Whitlock, 2013). In 2014, a top Army sexual assault prosecutor was suspended

following allegations that he groped a fellow lawyer while attending a legal

conference, and in 2015 a deputy commander of an infantry brigade faced court-

martial on charges of sexual harassment and assault (Carroll & Vandiver, 2014).

Of course, sexual assault is not unique to the military; it is also a major issue

in larger society and of increasing concern on college campuses across America.

Sexual assault cases involving military personnel get headlines in part because

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doi: 10.1002/wmh3.228

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the military is such a highly respected public institution. The general public has

greater conf‌idence in the military than any other U.S. institution, and that has

been true for at least the past 20 years (Gallup, 2013). The public accepts the

notion, promoted by military leadership, that military personnel should be held

to a higher personal standard than the average citizen.

Indeed, in a 2013 Department of Defense (DoD) strategic plan for dealing

with sexual assault, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel clearly articulated the

Department’s “zero tolerance” policy:

Sexual assault is a crime that is incompatible with military service and

has no place in this Department. It is an affront to the American values

we defend, and it is a stain on our honor. DoD needs to be a national

leader in combating sexual assault and we will establish an environment

of dignity and respect, where sexual assault is not tolerated, condoned, or

ignored (Hagel, 2013).

1

To back up this commitment, the DoD has developed policies and established

extensive programs in prevention, investigation and accountability, victim

assistance, and assessment in order to combat sexual violence. Despite these

efforts, sexual assault in the military remains a problem, and the perception in

some quarters is that the military problem is growing and possibly worse than

sexual assault in the civilian sector.

Although sexual assault in the military can be discussed on many levels, the

current paper examines three aspects of the problem. First we evaluate trends in

the prevalence of sexual assault, investigating whether or not sexual assault is a

growing problem in the military. Second, we assess how rates of sexual assault in

the military compare to civilian rates, with particular attention to examining

whether sexual assault is a more serious problem in the military, including a

discussion of sexual assault in the military academies as compared to civilian

colleges. Finally, we examine the issue of prevention and response, reviewing

what the military has done to confront the problem and how it might improve

such efforts. The scope of the paper is limited to the active duty force. For the

f‌irst two issues, this review relies on published reports from both DoD and

civilian sectors. The f‌inal section relies on relevant research and policy

discussions.

Prevalence and Trends in the Military

The ability to measure trends of sexual assault in the U.S. military improved

considerably with the establishment of the DoD Sexual Assault Prevention and

Response off‌ice (SAPRO) in 2005 and the onset of comprehensive DoD sexual

harassment and assault surveys conducted by the Defense Manpower Data

Center (DMDC). That said, earlier studies of sexual assault in the U.S. military

were hampered by lack of uniform data. For example, while Turchik and Wilson

(2010) offer a reasonably comprehensive review of studies of sexual assault in the

Rough/Armor: Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military 207