Hot Topic for Military Sexual Assault
The military is facing a major controversy when it comes to sexual harassment and sexual assault. Both sides of this controversy generally feel something needs to be changed so these crimes decrease and our soldiers feel safe among their comrades. The basic argument of this issues is how the government and military can change to decrease these crimes. This leads to the main question for this issue. Should Military Commanders prosecute sexual assault cases?
. A person cannot decide on an issue if they do not know what the controversy is even focusing on. The reason is the person does not have all the facts to make an educated option. As a result, when looking at this controversy fist we have to look at what sexual assault and harassment are and the differences between these two. Sexual assault is forced or threatened sexual contact from another person. (Dictionary.com) An example of this would be rape because the person is being forced into sexual intercourse, which is sexual contact. Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual advances from a supervisor or employer. (Dictionary.com) A boss could make a unwanted sexual comment like “your breasts looks nice” to an employer, this is unwanted and it is a sexual comment. As a result, it is sexual harassment. A person can make an educated option about the controversy now that they know what the focus of the controversy focuses on.
Apart of this issue is to look at how the military received the power to take cases in their own courts and not public courts. In the 1776 Articles of War it stated that rape or any capital crime was not taken to the commander but to civil courts. Congress passed the” Act for Enrolling and Calling Out the National Forc...
... middle of paper ...
...dience member for this paper would be military service members. These are the people who can testify in Congress for either side of this issues because they are directly affected by the decision of who has the power to hear their cases.
Works Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. na na 2014. 7 April 2014.
Gilibrand, Kirsten. "Should Commanders Deal With Sexual Assault?" U.S. News Digital Weekly 28 June 2013: NA. Document.
Koons, Jennifer. CQ researcher. 9 August 2013. Document. 6 April 2014.
Library, Lillian Goldman Law. Lillian Goldman Law Library. na na 2008. 7 April 2014.
Publications, Congressional Documents and. Klobuchar Legislation to Help Fight Sexual Assault in the Military Included in National Defense Authorization . report. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc., 2013. database.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 7 April 2014
Federalist no. 78 is persistent in its sort of justifications of the Constitutions vagueness. The letter claims that the judiciary branch is of the least danger of t...
Sexual assault and sexual misconduct are other issues that must be addressed and dealt with in law enforcement. Sexual assault of an inmate by an officer should never happen under any circumstance. However, when it does officers should be dealt with immediately. There is never a situation where sexual contact with an inmate should be allowed or over looked. Sexual contact with an inmate should be grounds for immediate termination, as well as charges filed against the officer. In 2008 a court of appeals in Michigan found in favor of ten female inmates who were sexually abused by guards at Michigan's Scott Correctional Facility (Heenan, 2009). These women were awarded $15.4 million. In another case of sexual harassment and rape in another Michigan prison, eight women were awarded $8.5 million for the abuse they sustained while incarcerated (Heenan, 2009).
Jost, Kenneth. "The Federal Judiciary." CQ Researcher 8.10 (1998). CQ Researcher. SAGE Publications. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. .
Fenves, President of the University of Texas at Austin (Campus Sexual Assault Survey, para 5). Sexual assault does not specify to any one “type” of person; not one gender, not one nationality, not one religious or political belief. It can happen to anyone: gay, straight, bi-sexual, man or woman, transgender, American, African-American, Islamic, Catholic, Conservative or Liberal. The only way sexual assault is truly able to be stopped, is if colleges take better preventive measures to handle sexual assault cases and if there are consequences to be held accountable for an attacker, regardless of their age. In no way is it lawful for anyone to lose themselves over something that could have been prevented and in no way is it just for a human being with rights to be treated like a sex object or a piece of meat. Sexual assault/sexual violence needs to be prosecuted due to the multiple trials and tribulations victims go through after an attack and even beyond the attack, the victim was most likely not able to give consent or was under the influence, and could possibly be accused of a “cry rape”. Sexual assault is not to be taken lightly; in order for this type of epidemic to cease spreading through vast college campuses around America, there must be consequences to be established for the safety of those who need it most, the
Mott, Meg. "What about prevention? Higher ed must adopt stronger policies and practices to prevent sexual assault." University Business Mar. 2014: 56. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
in the military today. Over 42 percent of all enlisted women say they have sexual harassed by they*re male colleges. There have been major scandals
Source (Please attach copy of article): Burns, B., Grindlay, K., Holt, K., Manski, R., & Grossman, D. (2014). Military sexual trauma among US servicewomen during deployment: A qualitative study. American Journal of Public Health, 104(2), 345-349. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1499845673?accountid=12387
Today, Native American women continue to be victimized and remain vulnerable targets within, their communities, reservations, tribal law enforcement agencies, and federal law enforcement agencies. In order to restore peace and justice for Native women we first need to have critical and substantive discussion regarding all aspects of sexual assault on r...
In this research paper, we will evaluate how sexual assault is handled on a college campus. What system is used and how does it
Laws have been created to help with sexual assault victims for example, Title IX however laws like these are not good enough to keep students protected; schools need additional policies put in place to help keep their students safe. In 1972 Title IX was passed which was a law that “requires gender equity for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding” (History). The law has ten areas in which it protects students and their access to higher education, career education, education for pregnant and parenting students, employment, learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing and technology (History). When dealing with sexual harassment Title IX requires that schools immediately take action to eliminate sexual assault threats as soon as an incident is reported (studentaffaris). The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or for short Clery Act is another law that is put in place to protect sexually assaulted victims. ...
I am suggesting that the prosecution of rapists and sexual assaulters should be handled by civilian courts instead of by the military’s own system, like it is currently being handled. This would allow for the attackers to be fairly judged and obtain a formal punishment that they deserve. It is no secret that the military has in the past made up rules as they go concerning rape. No formal punishment is given and most cases are not even considered for trial. This utter lack of concern for the rape and sexual assault victims will dissuade future soldiers from joining the army and the other branches of service. Soldiers will be more scared for their safety from their fellow soldiers than by being killed by the common enemy.
Sexual Assault in the military has become an uprising problem. Within the military community, the term sexual assault carries a meaning that includes everything from violent sexual acts such as rape and forcible sodomy, to assault with intent to commit rape, unwanted sexual touching or attention and being a witness of the crime and not reporting it. Although most believe those who commit such heinous crimes are usually a person or persons with a violent record, violence is not a prerequisite for sexual assault. Once a service member becomes a victim of sexual assault, they become much more than a victim of just the crime itself. They fall victim to their own thoughts, never being able to trust their chain of command again, jeopardizing careers
When it comes to sexual assault on college campuses there is also the question of what can colleges do to decrease the amount of sexual assaults. Bradford Richardson and Jon A Shields wondered the same thing, so they conducted an ...
Kitfield, James. “The Enemy Within”. The National Journal. 13 September 2012. Web. 4 November 2013 http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-military-s-rape-problem-20120913
Glazer, S. (1996, July 19). Crackdown on sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 6, 625-648. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/