The number of sexual assaults in the United States military stabilized in 2020 after several years of increase, despite the long months of confinement imposed on the military due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a published Pentagon annual report Thursday.
According to this report from the Department of Defense's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Treatment (SAPR), the number of sexual assaults and crimes brought to the attention of military authorities stood at 7,816, down from 0 , 1% compared to the 7,825 cases reported in 2019.
In 2019, their number had increased by 3% and in 2018 by 13%.
It is in the Navy and the Marine Corps that the number of reports increased most clearly in 2020 (+ 3%), while it increased by 1% in the Army and that it decreased by 1. % in the US Air Force.
The proportion of soldiers reporting sexual assault remained stable compared to the previous year, at 5.1 per 1,000 soldiers, the document said.
An annual report imposed by Congress
But while this proportion remains stable in the Army, at 5.5 per 1,000, it has fallen over one year in the US Navy, from 5 to 4.7 per 1,000, in the US Air Force, from 4.6 to 4.3 per 1,000, and among the Marines, 5.4 to 3.1.
This annual report is imposed on the Pentagon by Congress and is unrelated to the internal investigation launched in February by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin into the military hierarchy's handling of complaints of sexual harassment in the military.
The Pentagon chief has appointed an independent commission to submit suggestions for the perpetrators of sexual violence to be prosecuted more effectively.
One of the suggestions considered would be to withdraw from the military hierarchy the decision to prosecute the perpetrators of violence before military justice.
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United States
World
Army
Violence against women
Sexual assault