Defense Department Convenes Sexual Assault Policy Experts for Advice

The U.S. Department of Defense convened a group of experts on sexual violence in late September to develop a set of policy recommendations that may be implemented across all branches of the military.

Dr. Heather Schumacher Karjane, researcher for HHD's Center for Violence and Injury Prevention, appeared before Defense Department officials at the September conference to present findings on the similarities between sexual assault in the military and sexual assault on college campuses and results on what types of policies and practices are thought to work to increase reporting and help seeking .

Karjane, who has specialized in the fields of violence against women, violence prevention, traumatic stress and survivorship for two decades, showed that military bases and college campuses share common traits. For example, both entities are made up of large groups of young adults who are often away from home for the first time, possibly using drugs and alcohol, and living together in close quarters.

In the armed forces, however, issues related to the military's “warrior” culture and the stress of actual or anticipated combat are added to the equation, which appears to intensify the risk of sexual assault and domestic violence for military women, said Karjane.

Balancing the varying needs of victims, perpetrators and the Defense Department – particularly as they relate to issues of victim confidentiality – was a special focus of her plenary panel presentation, Karjane said. “When people are being assaulted by colleagues in an environment where they must live and work together and they must rely on each other, reporting enables perpetrators to be held accountable for their crimes and early intervention helps victims cope with the traumatic consequences of their victimization ,” she said.

The conference was in response to a Feb. 5 memorandum from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in which he said that “sexual assault will not be tolerated in the Department of Defense.” In the memo, he directed commanders at every level to review the treatment and care of sexual assault victims in DOD , especially those in combat environments.

As a result of the memo, the DOD Task Force Report on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault was released in April 2004 . The September working- conference brought together the military's top brass to review the report 's recommendations and hear expert testimony with the goal of drafting a final policy statement on sexual assault that may be adopted at an upcoming DOD Leadership Summit .

The DOD policy on sexual assault may be on the fast track, but t he department appears to be following a careful process to do it right, Karjane observes. " Leaders in the top echelons of the DOD are acknowledging the problem, assessing current practices, and aiming toward a instituting a comprehensive prevention and response policy, ” she said. “Of key importance will be how the policy recommendations made during the Task Force conference will be translated into daily practices in military bases worldwide.”

Prior to the Rumsfeld memo, Karjane worked closely with the U.S. Air Force to assess and develop policy to address the problems of rape/ sexual assault, which first surfaced at the U.S. Air Force Academy in the spring of 2003 and lead to a force-wide review. She and other experts helped Air Force officials draft a prevention and response policy that recommends a bystander approach .

“The bystander approach is very powerful because it 's practical, appeals to people's best instincts, and breaks down gender barriers to the often polarizing issue ,” Karjane said. “ Since everyone is affected by sexual assault — directly or indirectly — everyone has a role in its prevention. It prompts people to intervene in a range of ways to situations in which they see risk factors for sexual assault taking place,” she said.

With its preliminary work done, the Air Force – with 250,000 among its ranks -- now has the opportunity to institutionalize a comprehensive sexual assault prevention and response policy for the largest group of people in the United States , Karjane said. The DOD policy will cover all branches of the military, including the Air Force. Currently, neither the Air Force nor the DOD has an overall policy to address the issue.

Because the Air Force policy is so wide-ranging and has support from high-ranking officials , it could possib ly become the prototype for all of DOD. “By all indications, top leadership has embraced the problem,” she said. “If you don't have the actual people with power and authority to delegate resources, then it is far less likely to succeed.”

Next, the Air Force needs to spend the money to educate people in the policy and train them in sexual assault prevention, institute coordinated response teams, and enforce the policy, she said.

“What the Air Force has created in terms of a sexual assault policy is very solid” Karjane said. “They're focusing on prevention to stop rape and sexual assault , providing coordinated advocacy, mental health and other services to victims, and trying to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes,” she said.

“The Air Force has the opportunity to be the leader in sexual assault policy – and I and many others in the field who have worked with them during this process have genuine hope that they will be,” Karjane said.

September, 2004