Documents reveal US military’s random approach to dealing with sex abuse cases
Documents obtained under freedom of information laws suggest that the US armed forces have an inconsistent approach to dealing with cases
After a night of heavy drinking at the Globe and Anchor, a watering hole for enlisted US marines in Okinawa, Japan, a female service member awoke in her barracks room as a man was raping her, she reported. She tried repeatedly to push him off. But wavering in and out of consciousness, she couldn't stop him.
Fast forward a year. A drunk male service member was helped into bed by a male marine with whom he had spent the day. The marine then performed oral sex on the victim "for approximately 20 minutes against his will", records show. The accused insisted the sex was consensual, but he was court martialled, sentenced to six years in prison, busted to E-1, the military's lowest rank, and dishonourably discharged.
The two cases, both adjudicated by the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, are among more than 1,000 reports of sex crimes involving US military personnel based in Japan between 2005 and early 2013. Obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the records show a pattern of random and inconsistent judgments in the world of military justice.
The news comes as Congress is considering stripping senior officers of their authority to decide if serious crimes should be tried. The Associated Press found that the handling of allegations in Japan - home to the largest population of overseas American military personnel - verged on the chaotic, with seemingly strong cases often reduced to lesser charges. In two rape cases, commanders overruled recommendations to court martial and dropped the charges instead.
Even when military authorities agreed that a crime had been committed, the suspect was unlikely to serve time.
Nearly two-thirds of 244 service members whose punishments were detailed in the records were not incarcerated.