WASHINGTON – Two female lawmakers plan to harness the public outrage around sexual assaults in the military and turn it into legislation.
The STOP Act, first introduced by Rep Jackie Speier, D-Calif., in 2011, aims to take the prosecution of military sexual suspects away from the chain of command and place jurisdiction in an autonomous Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office. It was sent to a House Armed Services subcommittee early last year, but failed to advance.
Speier, unveiling an updated bill at a Wednesday news conference, said movement in public opinion and recent events have her confident of success this time around. In fact, the bill already has 83 co-sponsors. Separately, Rep. Chellie Pingree is pushing legislation to make it easier for assault victims to claim disability benefits.
“Since last year there have been more scandals — Lackland Air Force Vase, the case in Aviano, Italy — all of which are damning condemnations of a military justice system that lacks justice,” Speier said.
Kelly Smith, a retired U.S. Army linguist who joined Speier Wednesday, said a non-commissioned officer sexually assaulted her in 2003 when she was 19 years old. At the hospital, Smith said she was forced to attend therapy with her attacker and was assaulted by a second non-commissioned officer in the elevator at the facility. Instead of facing prosecution, Smith said her attacker remained in the Army, and was promoted twice.
“Military leaders have proven repeatedly that they cannot or will not protect the victims of sexual assault in their command,” Smith said.
Although much of the STOP Act’s text is the same as the 2012 bill, Speier said it has been simplified: “I’ve made it very clear that the cases will remain in the military, that the office will be in the military — just separated from the chain of the command.”
The Ruth Moore Act of 2013, sponsored by Rep. Pingree, D-Maine, picks up where the STOP Act leaves off — with the medical treatment of military sexual trauma survivors.
Inspired by the 24-year struggle of rape victim Ruth Moore to receive disability compensation from the Veterans Benefits Administration, the bill aims to improve the claims disability process for the nearly half a million other military sexual trauma survivors.
“Ruth, like many MST survivors, did not have military records that corroborated the rape, so her claim was repeatedly denied,” said Pingree at a Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday. “Unfortunately, she is not alone…. How are these veterans supposed to qualify for the help they need from the VA?”
Currently, to receive disability compensation, a sexual trauma survivor must provide a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a medical link to diagnosis and evidence verifying the sexual assault.
The Pingree bill streamlines the process. “Under this bill, in order to receive service connected benefits, a veteran would have to provide a statement that the assault took place; along with a diagnosis from a VA health care professional that links the assault to a mental health condition,” Pingree said.
A recent Department of Defense report estimated 19,000 rapes and sexual assaults occur in the Armed Forces each year — 85 percent of them, Pingree said, go unreported.
“It is clear the department still has much more work to do to fully address the problem of sexual assault in the ranks,” said Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel in a recent statement. “Addressing the problem of sexual assault will remain a top priority for the department’s leaders for as long as this crime continues to hurt our people and weaken the force.”