Military Sexual Assault Convictions

The military received 6,083 reports of sexual assault last year.  Of those reported cases, 2,783 were sent to a military commander for disposition.  In a refreshing display of commander discretion, the convening authority decided that there was not enough evidence to pursue a sexual assault conviction in 770 cases.  Ultimately, 543 of the 2,783 cases went to court-martial.  Here is the breakdown of the 543 court-martial cases:

• 130 resulted in not-guilty verdicts;
• 161 resulted in a conviction in charges unrelated to sexual assault; and
• 254 resulted in sexual assault convictions.

Here is what a senior DoD official in the SAPRO said about these numbers:

Yeah, it doesn’t make us feel very comfortable that we can’t, when an allegation is made, that we can’t take every single allegation to court.  But that is our justice system,” said Nate Galbreath, a senior executive adviser for the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response program.”

The 2015 Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office report is available here.