A new era is beginning for the American army. At the end of December, a reform has just come into force which removes from the high command the authority to investigate and decide whether or not to initiate proceedings against a soldier accused of sexual assault, rape or murder. From now on, it will be independent military lawyers – and no longer the senior officers who will be in charge of these cases, in order to ensure a fairer procedure. “This is the most significant reform of our military justice system” since 1950, said Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.
For more than 15 years, the military has faced an epidemic of sexual assault. Incidents increased last year by 13 percent in the Navy, 9 percent in the Air Force and 3.6 percent in the Marine Corps, according to the Pentagon’s annual report. On the other hand, they fell by 9% in the Army after an explosion in 2021. In total, there were 8,942 complaints recorded in 2022, a slight increase compared to the 8,866 in 2021. But the number is undoubtedly good higher. According to an anonymous survey carried out regularly by the Pentagon, 36,000 members of the armed forces said they had suffered some form of sexual abuse in 2022, an astronomical increase of more than 75% compared to 2018.
So far, a large number of attackers have escaped prison and even prosecution. Blame it on the justice system. The decision to open an investigation and launch legal action was left to the discretion of the military command, which often did not take the complaint seriously or protect the accused. Of the 6,236 complaints filed in 2019, for example, only 255 resulted in a trial and 156 in a conviction. Even more serious, 38% of female soldiers were subsequently penalized in their career for daring to file a complaint, according to the same Pentagon survey.
The American army has fiercely resisted any reform for years, which has not helped its recruitment problems. Under growing pressure from Congress and the Biden administration, she ended up accepting this law passed in 2022 which imposes a new judicial system. The murder in 2020 of Vanessa Guillén also contributed to the evolution of minds. This 20-year-old Army soldier complained of harassment on a Texas base to her superiors who did nothing. She was killed with a hammer by one of her comrades who then dismembered and burned her body.
Will the law really have an impact and increase prosecutions? Nobody knows. For some experts, it does not go far enough. “Given the relatively small number of court-martial cases, why not let Justice Department professionals handle these cases, as they handle all federal crimes? The quality of military justice remains inferior,” said Rachel VanLandingham, professor of law at Southwestern Law School and former Air Force judge, on X (formerly Twitter). The Pentagon, well aware that the reform will not transform the internal culture overnight, is working in parallel to establish a prevention force of more than 2,000 people against sexual abuse.
