Americans demand change in military sexual assault trials: Poll

A new poll reveals that most Americans seek congressional intervention for the prosecution of sexual assault cases in the US military.

Forty-five percent of respondents said they prefer prosecutors to pursue sexual assault crimes committed in the military, as opposed to 44 percent who said the problem should be handled within the ranks of the military.
Moreover, the poll showed that 63 percent of those surveyed have little or no confidence that Congress will make the right decisions in addressing the problem of sexual assault in the military, while only 37 percent said they had a fair amount to a great deal of confidence.
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have placed legal power to oversee major criminal cases, including sex crimes, in the hands of uniformed prosecutors.
Washington is facing a crisis due to the rising number of sexual assaults in the country’s military.
A newly-released report by the Pentagon on sexual assaults in the military indicates that unwanted sexual contact in the military soared by 37 percent in 2012 to reach 26,000 cases from 19,000 a year earlier.
The sharp increase in the number of sexual assault cases comes as the Pentagon is planning to integrate women into front-line combat roles.