On March 10, the Senate approved, 97-0, the Victims Protection Act (S. 1917), sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). Last week, the Senate began debate on the issue of sexual assault in the military and voted to block further consideration of the Military Justice Improvement Act (S. 1752), sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (see The Source, 3/7/14).
The Victims Protection Act would preserve a military commander’s ability to determine whether to try criminal offenses, such as sexual assault and rape, by court-martial. Such determination would have to be made by a commissioned officer of grade O-6 or higher, who has significant trial experience and is outside the chain of command of the individual charged with the offense.
The legislation also would require the secretary of Defense to establish a “special victims” counsel for alleged sexual assault victims. Secretaries of the military departments would be required to establish a process to ensure that sexual assault victims are able to determine their preference for having their cases prosecuted by court-martial or by a civilian court; the victim’s preference would be given “great weight.” Counseling services would be available to victims of sexual assault.
A commander’s handling of sexual assault cases would become part of his/her performance review. The bill would require that military sexual assault prevention and response programs also would apply to the service academies.
