Personal security

Over 70,000 military sexual assaults took place last year -- Congress must take action

Congress should act swiftly to approve long overdue legislation introduced Thursday to strengthen the prosecution of sexual assault in the military.

The Defense Department estimates that about 8,600 women and 6,300 men were sexually assaulted in our armed forces last year. Most victims were attacked more than once, resulting in over 70,000 sexual assaults in 2016 alone.

As a civil legal aid attorney representing women who are survivors of military sexual assault, I have seen the terrible suffering of far too many and the failure of the military to adequately punish attackers and help survivors deal with their trauma.

For example, one of my clients was raped by several men in a single incident when she was in the Army. She went to her commanding officer still covered in her own blood. After seeing her condition, his response was simply: “Can you soldier on?”