December 15, 2010 - The Department of Defense (DoD) today released key findings from the Academic Program Year (APY) 2009-2010 “Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the United States Military Service Academies.” The report also contains the results from the “2010 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey.”
The academies saw an overall increase in the number of sexual assault reports made to authorities in APY 2009-2010. During the evaluation period, a total of 41 reports of sexual assault involved cadets and midshipmen compared to a total of 25 reports in the prior APY. This may not indicate an increase in instances of sexual assault occurring, as it could also be a result of training and education and victims’ confidence in the department’s ability to respond. All who reported a sexual assault were able to access support services through their sexual assault response coordinators.
“Sexual harassment and assault are incompatible with our core values, degrade mission readiness and reflect poorly on military culture, said Clifford L. Stanley, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. “The department is committed to establishing a culture free of sexual harassment and assault at the academies, and for the force in general.”
According to the survey results, the department estimates fewer than 10 percent of incidents are actually reported at the academies. Some of the common reasons cited by cadets and midshipmen for not reporting the incidents included dealing with the incident themselves, fearing gossip, feeling the incident was not important enough to report, and feeling uncomfortable making a report. {press release continues}
2010 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey -














No comments:
Post a Comment