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FACTS ON UNITED STATES MILITARY SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Statistics from the 2016 DoD SAPR Annual Report and its appendices/annexes, unless otherwise noted www.rand.org/nsrd/projects/rmws/publications.html www.sapr.mil/index.php/annual-reports

Updated February 2018

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Sexual Violence Remains Pervasive • 14,900 members (8,600 women and 6,300 men) were

sexually assaulted in 2016. Rates of penetrative assault were unchanged from 2014.

• Most victims were sexually assaulted more than once, resulting in over 41,000 assaults in 2016 alone.

• Over 1 in 4 women and 1 in 3 men were assaulted by someone in their chain of command.

Vast Majority of Cases Go Un-Reported • 81% of victims did not report the crime in 2016.

Retaliation Is the Norm • 58% of women and 60% of men who reported a

sexual assault face retaliation.

• 77% of retaliation reports alleged that retaliators were in the reporter’s chain of command.

• A third of victims are discharged after reporting, typically within 7 months of making a report.i

• Victims received harsher discharges, with 24% separated under less than fully honorable conditions, compared to 15% of all service members.ii

Low Trust and Satisfaction in System • 1 in 10 victims dropped out of the justice process—a

rate unchanged since 2013.

• Over 1 in 4 victims who did not report feared retaliation from their command or coworkers.

• Nearly 1 in 3 victims who did not report feared the process would be unfair or nothing would be done.

• 1 in 3 women and over half of men were dissatisfied with their treatment by their chain of command.

Definitions: Sexual assault in the survey corresponds to crimes defined by Uniform Code of Justice (UCMJ) Article 120 (rape & sexual assault) and Article 80 (attempts). Sexual harassment is defined in federal law and military regulations, and includes a pervasive and severe sexually hostile work environment that interferes with the ability to do one’s job and/or sexual quid pro quo. Gender discrimination, also defined in law and regulations, refers to gender-based mistreatment that results in harm to one’s career.

Sexual Assault is More Common in a Military Context • In 2014, rates were 50% higher among active-duty

women, and over 100% higher among men, than in the Reserves.

Conviction and Prosecution Rates • Prosecution and conviction rates fell dramatically

from prior years.

• In 2016, of cases where the military could take action, only 13% (389) were prosecuted and just 4% (124) of offenders were convicted of a sex offense.

High Demand for VA Care • 1,307,781 outpatient visits took place at the VA for

Military Sexual Trauma (MST)-related care in 2015.iii

• Approximately 38% of female and 4% of male military personnel and veterans have experienced MST.iv

• 40% of women homeless veterans have faced MST.v Veterans with an MST history are over twice as likely to experience homelessness.

Sexual Harassment is Alarmingly High • 129,000 service members (1 in 4 women, 1 in 15 men)

faced severe and persistent sexual harassment or gender discrimination in 2016. vi

• The majority of victims were harassed by someone in their chain of command.

Good Order and Discipline at Risk • Service members who are sexually harassed are at

significantly greater risk of sexual assault.

• 1 in 4 survivors of either sexual assault or sexual harassment/discrimination took steps to leave the military as a result.

i Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General, Evaluation of the Separation of Service Members Who Made a Report of Sexual Assault (2016), http://goo.gl/qUjZmm ii DoD IG report; Veterans Legal Clinic, Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, Underserved: How the VA Wrongfully Excludes Veterans with Bad Paper (2016), https://goo.gl/UV8jmF iii Department of Veterans Affairs, Patient Care Services, Mental Health Services, MST Support Team, FY 2015 Summary of MST-Related Outpatient Care (2016) iv L Wilson, “The Prevalence of Military Sexual Trauma: A Meta- Analysis,” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse (2016) v J Pavao, JA Turchik, JK Hyun, et al., “Military Sexual Trauma Among Homeless Veterans,” Journal of General Internal Medicine 28 Suppl 2 (2013) vi E Brignone, AV Gundalapalli, RK Blais, et al., “Differential Risk for Homelessness Among US Male and Female Veterans With a Positive Screen for Military Sexual Trauma,” JAMA Psychiatry, 73, no. 6 (2016), https://goo.gl/6fJt1G