Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has heard from his handpicked panel of experts, his top uniformed adviser and the senior leadership of each of the services. Now he must decide whether he will take the leap and create policy requiring sexual assaults to be prosecuted by independent judge advocates , rather than by commanders. That group of 12 came back with their first recommendations in April, chief among them that prosecutions should be handled by trained attorneys. It also comes as lawmakers are stepping up pressure to take the decision out of the chain of command. Kirby did not rule out that Austin might want to further consult with service leadership, or others, before announcing his final decision. Austin and Army Gen.
Full text issues
The change is one of many recommended by an independent review commission launched early this year
AP - A Pentagon panel is recommending that decisions to prosecute service members for sexual assault be made by independent authorities, not commanders, in what would be a major reversal of military practice and a change long sought by Congress members, The Associated Press has learned. The recommendation by an independent review commission created by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin goes against decades of vehement Pentagon arguments to keep cases within the chain of command. It was among a number of initial recommendations delivered to Austin on Thursday, according to two senior defense officials. Austin expects to seek input from military service leaders before making any final decision, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal reports not yet made public. But combating sexual assault in the military is a top priority for Austin, and the fact that this recommendation was made so directly and quickly suggests it will carry a lot of weight. The review panel said that for certain special victims crimes, designated independent judge advocates reporting to a civilian-led office of the Chief Special Victim Prosecutor should decide two key legal questions: whether to charge someone and, ultimately, if that charge should go to a court martial, the officials said. The crimes would include sexual assault, sexual harassment and, potentially, certain hate crimes. According to the officials, that recommendation would affect a small fraction of the wide range of military discipline cases that commanders regularly handle. The panel also is recommending that sexual harassment claims be investigated outside the chain of command, and that if a charge is substantiated, the military should immediately begin the process of discharging that person from the force while other legal proceedings continue. Eventually, they said, it could lead to increased reporting by victims of sexual assaults.
See a Problem?
Strike at Kaiser Permanente averted with tentative labor agreement reached. Public Safety. One dead, one wounded in shooting outside Chula Vista bar. Pedestrian killed in hit-and-run crash in East Village.
The emergence of the nation state in early modern Europe was associated with firm policing of sexual behaviour and the creation of a close interdependence between permitted sexuality, procreation, and heterosexual marital union. European armies became experimental fields for the creation of model men and citizens; their sexuality was tightly controlled, and any deviation from the norm harshly punished. Military law, based on the school of natural law and the concept of a just war and military discipline, was the first to develop a systematic approach to sex offences, their hierarchies, and forms of punishment. As a result, European military codes and military courts prosecuted any sexual practices which deviated from the norm interpreted as procreative marital heterosexual relations. This was one of the most important aspects of early modern development and the emergence of the nation state. The seventeenth century had only seven peaceful years without war.
