Opinion: Here’s what the military can do to address its sexual assault crisis
Soldiers in the Old Guard arrive to place American flags at graves in Arlington National Cemetery in May 2017. By Sara Darehshori May 15 at 4:09 PM Sara Darehshori is a principal at Vestry Laight LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations assess and address sexual misconduct. She was previously senior counsel in the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch.
The surge is counterintuitively encouraging, showing that more people are willing to report retaliation cases. No doubt, this is the result of important initiatives that the Defense Department undertook after I documented, in two reports as counsel at Human Rights Watch, extensive retaliation against sexual assault victims.
First, Congress should update the burden-of-proof standard for military whistleblowers. It is virtually impossible under current law for victims to prove retaliation. Military victims must show, by a preponderance of evidence, that the unfavorable action would not have been taken if they hadn’t reported sexual assault.
I spoke with many victims who were disciplined or discharged for behavior revealed when they reported a sexual assault. Perpetrators take advantage of this — one woman told me her rapist said she would be in trouble for underage drinking if she told anyone what happened. Some victims’ lawyers discourage clients from reporting for this reason.
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