IS MILITARY PROTOCOL EFFECTIVE REGARDING MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULT/ HARASSMENT?
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A focus on laws and sexual ethics of the military justice system obligates a close examination of the military’s public achievements and failures on solving sexual misconducts. The military together with academies is what forms part of a microcosm in the society (Gedney et al., 2020). Thus, the military has formed a justice system meant to solve sexual harassment. Nevertheless, the military protocol has not been effective regarding military sexual assault:
As depicted by the graph, lack of confidence in the system forms one of the main reasons why people do not report cases of sexual harassments in military
SILENCE ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT GRAPH 2017(Stander et al., 2017).
Some of the primary reasons why the system is not trusted include:
One of the failures of the military justice system is the lack of protection laws. Absence of victim protection laws has reduced the number of reports on sexual assaults in the military. These laws are formed to increase the number of reports on sexual assaults due to presence of more stringent laws. Thus, due to lack of these laws, the majority of the military sexual victims continue to suffer in silence.
Besides, the military justice system’s command discretion lack defined policies and laws. Lack of defined laws and policies has resulted in commanders ignoring some cases of sexual assaults. Furthermore, this has led to imparting too much power on one person leading to biasedness and prejudice in court proceedings.
Lack of legal representation is another factor that has failed the military justice system. The victims are not given a dedicated legal agent in the military justice system leading to rebuke of this system by the civilian world.
References
Gedney, C. R., Lundahl, B., & Fawson, P.R. (2020). Sexual assault prevention: a randomized control trial of a standard military intervention and a motivational interview enhancement. Violence and Victims, 35(2), 266-280.
Holliday, R., Maguen, S., Hoyt, T., Blais, R.K., & Monteith, L. L. (2019). Addressing Military Sexual Assault and Harassment through Collaborative, Multi-Institutional Approach. Mil. Psychol., 33, 6-9.
Stander, V.A., & Thomsen, C. J. (2017). Sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. military: A review of policy and research trends. Military Medicine, 181(suppl_1), 20-27.