Sexual Assault In The Military Free Essay Example, 4000 words

According to US Commission on Civil Rights (2013), though it is hard to give the correct figures since not all military men and women report them, the available cases are enough to indicate the seriousness of sexual violation within the military. In the military, survivors dread that reporting a case might interfere with the morale of the group. However, from the reported cases, the VA asserts that in general, between 22-27% of women in the military experience sexual assault, while around 11% were raped between 2000 and 2007 (Suris Lind 2008). Some critics opine that these figures are outdated as there has been an increase of women in the military since the publishing of the report. According to these critics, women are now more involved in missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. As per 2006, statistics indicated that more than 6% of women in active duty were assaulted (Kimerling et al. The military report on the pervasiveness of sexual assault in the force points out that around 3.5% of men in 2010 reported cases of sexual violation (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2013). Some reports show that almost 4% of male officers were assaulted sexually and at least 1% of the male officers were raped in 2003 (Kimerling et al. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Assault In The Military or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now A report released in 2006 suggests that more than 1.5% of active duty men were violated sexually (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2013). The numbers reported are probably lower than what is actually happening on the ground, since most officers do not report for fear of stigmatization, retaliation or out of the fear of being ignored. According to the latest figures published by the United States Secretary of Defense, in the 2013 fiscal year, about 5,061 sex assault cases were reported. This was solely for a period which ended in the month of September that year. In the previous year ending in the month of September, about 2700 cases were reported.