Pentagon Cites 1,700 Reports of Military-Involved Sex Assaults

Military criminal investigators received 1,700 reports of sexual assault in 2004 involving at least one member of the military, the Pentagon said Friday.

This includes cases in which a service member was either an alleged assailant or a victim. It is the first year the military has tracked this particular statistic, a move resulting from sexual assault scandals at the Air Force Academy and among deployed troops overseas.

But one part of this number that has been tracked in the past -- the number of military members claiming they were victims of assault -- showed a marked increase over previous years.

In 2004, 1,275 cases involved at least one service member saying he or she was a victim of sexual assault. That’s up from 1,012 in 2003 and from 901 in 2002.

This would suggest acts of sexual assault against military personnel are on the rise. But a Pentagon spokesman attributed the increase to higher awareness in the military about sexual assault issues, so service members feel more comfortable reporting the crime.

“We have focused our efforts [on] trying to encourage service members to come forward,” Army Lt. Col. Joe Richard said. “The environment has changed.”

Still, Richard noted that many sexual assaults go unreported in both the military and civilian worlds. This suggests the actual number of assaults is higher. These assaults took place in a population of 1.5 million active-duty and mobilized National Guard and reserve personnel.

Some of the 1,700 cases involve more than one assailant or more than one victim. Of those:

* 880, slightly more than half, involved an alleged assault by at least one military person against another.

* 425 involved an alleged assault by at least one member of the military against a non-service member.

* 99 involved an alleged assault by at least one non-service member against a member of the military.

* 296 involved an unidentified assailant against a member of the military.

The Pentagon defines sexual assault in this context as attempted or actual rape, nonconsensual sodomy and indecent assault, a category that includes unwanted sexual touching.

Investigations and adjudication of the cases of 1,022 alleged assailants were completed. Other cases were still open at the end of 2004, the end of the period that the report covers. Of those:

* 351 were not substantiated by investigation or closed due to insufficient evidence.

* 342 led to punitive action in the military justice system, including 113 courts-martial. The remaining cases involved less serious adjudication.

* 51 were in civilian or foreign courts.

In the rest, the assailant was not identified and the case was closed. The vast majority of cases involved a man allegedly assaulting a woman.

This year, the military has pledged greater confidentiality for victims of sexual assault who come forward.