WASHINGTON – The number of reported sexual assaults among military personnel declined last year, and a confidential survey revealed a 19% drop in the number of service members who said they had experienced some type of unwanted sexual contact, according to new figures obtained by the Associated Press. Both are dramatic reversals of what has been a growing problem in recent years.
More than 29,000 active-duty military personnel said in the survey that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact during the previous year, compared with nearly 36,000 in the 2021 survey, according to several defense officials. The reduction is the first in eight years.
At the same time, 8,515 sexual assaults were reported last year involving members of the U.S. military, a decrease from 8,942 in 2022. And officials said U.S. military academies also saw fewer reported sexual assaults in the school year that just ended. last spring compared to the previous year. year.
President Joe Biden praised the improving numbers when speaking Wednesday to his military commanders, who were meeting at the White House.
“I am proud that, for the first time in nearly a decade, rates of sexual assault and harassment have fallen within the active-duty forces. They are down. This is due to his leadership,” Biden said.
Senior defense officials said assault numbers are still too high and there is much more work to do, but they expressed cautious optimism that the military could be turning the corner, with the help of a series of new programs. and staff increase. Reports of sexual violence in the military have increased for much of the past decade, except for a small decrease in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been released publicly.
While it’s difficult to point to any one reason for the recent reductions, the Defense Department has made a number of changes over the past year that officials say may be contributing to the change. The services are using an infusion of more than a billion dollars in the last two budgets to improve programs and hire up to 2,500 employees as part of a new “prevention workforce” and place them at military installations around the world. So far, more than 1,000 have been hired.
The Pentagon releases a report every year on the number of sexual assaults reported by or against troops. But because sexual assault is a highly underreported crime, the department conducts a confidential survey every two years to get a clearer picture of the problem.
Data from the fiscal year that ended September 30 also suggests that a higher percentage of service members have come forward to report sexual assaults, which has been a key objective of the Department of Defense. About 25% of those who said in the survey they had faced unwanted sexual contact reported it last year, compared with 20% in 2021, according to defense officials and documents reviewed by the AP.
Defense officials have long argued that an increase in reports of assaults is a positive trend because many people are reluctant to report them, both in the military and in society as a whole. Greater reporting, they say, shows that there is more trust in the reporting system and greater comfort in supporting victims, and results in increasing numbers of offenders being held accountable.
But the Pentagon and the military services have also been the target of persistent criticism and pressure from members of Congress to reduce sexual assault and harassment in the military. All military leaders and lawmakers have argued that sexual assault and harassment contribute to the military’s struggle to meet recruiting goals.
Alarmed members of Congress enacted a series of changes, including a new prosecution system that uses independent lawyers. Lawmakers argued that some commanders did not take victims’ complaints seriously or try to protect those in their units who faced allegations, making victims reluctant to come forward.
Services have long worked to develop programs to prevent sexual assault, encourage reporting and build trust in the system. The Army, for example, has a new training program for soldiers when they report to their first duty station, which shows soldiers operating in dangerous situations and teaches troops how to respond.
The number of reported sexual assaults has declined across all military services, which is a marked improvement from fiscal year 2022, when the number of sexual assaults in the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps increased significantly. A 9% drop in Army reports in 2022 offset increases in the other branches, so there was an increase of about 1% for the armed forces as a whole. The Army is the largest military service.
According to authorities, the number of reported sexual assaults in the Army decreased from 3,718 in 2022 to 3,507 last year, while the Navy went from 2,052 to 1,942 and the Air Force from 1,928 to 1,838. The Marine Corps had the smallest decline, going from 1,244 to 1,228.
Included in the total of 8,515 were 541 military personnel who reported an attack that occurred before joining the military and 612 civilians who said they had been assaulted by a military member.
At military academies, the number of assaults dropped from 155 in 2022 to 124 in the 2023 school year. However, service commanders are still working to address what was a dramatic increase in 2022.
The latest survey also showed that nearly a quarter of all active-duty women said they had faced sexual harassment, a decrease from 28.6% in 2021.
One area of concern continues to be service members’ satisfaction with the help they receive when they make a complaint and their overall trust in the system and its leaders.
Although a large percentage of victims seek sexual violence response personnel, less than 70% are satisfied with the services they receive. And that hasn’t changed much in recent years. Approximately the same percentage say they trust the military to respect and protect them and their privacy.
Officials said hiring more permanent, full-time workers will help improve this process.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed.
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