{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/pentagon-sexual-assault-claims-drop-among-military-women", "Pentagon: Sexual assault claims drop among military women", "2014-12-04", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Pentagon: Sexual assault claims drop among military women \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Thursday, December 4, 2014\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Rowan Scarborough and Jacqueline Klimas\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Sexual assaults in the military are down and victims are more likely to report the crime, according to the latest numbers released Thursday that advocates say show recent changes are beginning to make a dent in what had become a crisis for the\u00a0Pentagon.\r\nFigures released by the\u00a0Rand Corp., an independent government-supported research center, estimated that 20,000 men and women in the military\u2019s 1.3 million active force said they were the victims last year of sexual assault \u2014 a catchall term that encompasses unwanted sexual contact, or attempts, up to and including rape. Both men and women reported fewer assaults, Rand said.\r\nMeanwhile, about 25 percent of victims said they reported the crime, up from just 10 percent two years earlier.\r\nDefense Secretary\u00a0Chuck Hagel, who has made stamping out sex crimes a top priority, declared at a press briefing that the military has seen \u201cmeasurable progress\u201d but \u201cwe still have a long way to go.\u201d\r\nWhile overall reporting increased, it remained low among men, only 10 percent of whom reported the crime, suggesting \u201cwe have a long way to go in fighting the cultural stigmas that discourage reporting among men,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Hagel\u00a0said.\r\n\r\nRand reported one surprise. Its survey\u2019s intrusive questioning found that there were \u201cmore penetrative assaults than previously thought.\u201d Nearly half of women (4,214) who said they were assaulted, and one-third of men (3,850), were victims of \u201cpenetrative\u201d attacks, the report said.\r\nLawmakers largely praised the report, saying that it showed the military was listening to outrage among those on Capitol Hill, though they acknowledged there is still work to be done, especially to eliminate retaliation against those who do come forward.\r\n\u201cThe report that the Defense Department released today provides some hard evidence that we\u2019re making progress to end the scourge of unwanted sexual contact,\u201d said Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cThe steps that we have taken in\u00a0Congress\u00a0and in the military are having an effect.\u201d\r\nOne area where the data showed no improvement from 2012 is retaliation. More than 60 percent of victims who reported an attack perceived some form of retaliation, though most of that is social retaliation among peers, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat.\r\nA smaller portion of victims have seen retaliation from superiors, though even that doesn\u2019t rise to the level of top-level commanders who are making decisions about which cases should be prosecuted, she said.\r\nStung both by the high number of unreported assaults and several high-profile cases,\u00a0Congress\u00a0and the\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0pushed for changes last year. Among those changes were mandatory dishonorable discharges for those convicted of sexual assault and a review by the secretary of the service if a commander declined to bring a case to trial that a staff judge advocate recommended to prosecute.\r\nWhile many saw the report as a positive step forward, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, said the new statistics back up her push to strip military commanders of their ability to prosecute sexual assault cases.\r\nShe wants to place that decision with a military lawyer outside the chain of command, which she said will cut down on retaliation.\r\n\u201cFor a year now we have heard how the reforms in the previous defense bill were going to protect victims, and make retaliation a crime,\u201d she said. \u201cIt should be a screaming red flag to everyone when 62 percent of those who say they reported a crime were retaliated against \u2014 nearly two-thirds \u2014 the exact same number as last year.\u201d\r\nMs. McCaskill, who opposes Ms. Gillibrand\u2019s proposal, said that while retaliation is too high, the problem wasn\u2019t commanders. She said nearly three-fourths of victims were happy with their commander\u2019s response and would recommend other victims to report the crimes.\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/pentagon-sexual-assault-claims-drop-among-military-women"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3778118193149567, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}