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Investigate US Military for Lying about Sexual Assault Cases!
Dear friends, Samantha reported the rape and her attacker confessed. It should have been an easy conviction. But then the US military took the case away from the civilian District Attorney, and said they would handle it. Insteadthe US military declined to prosecute Samantha's attacker. Two weeks ago, an Associated Press investigation and Protect Our Defenders report found that Samantha's case was not an isolated incident. In fact, the US military has been misleading the public and US politicians about its handling of sexual assault cases for years. Veterans' groups and politicians have long demanded reform. Now Samantha and thousands of other sexual assault survivors are joining them in calling for an impartial system where military prosecutors, instead of commanders, decide whether cases are sent to trial. One of the major reasons reform has not already happened is that the US military has misled the US government. In July 2013, Admiral James Winnefeld testified that the military would "have fewer prosecutions" if the system changed. He cited 93 sexual assault cases between 2010 and 2013 that military commanders "insisted" on prosecuting after civilian prosecutors had "refused" them. The recent investigation shows, however, that the military actually received 12,232 sexual assault reports between 2010 and 2013 — the vast majority of which the commanders chose not to prosecute. Of the 93 cases that Admiral Winnefeld cited during his testimony, there isn't a single example of a commander "insisting" that a case be prosecuted, and the conviction rates for sexual assault were much lower than he claimed. There is no denying that the military justice system is broken. Commanders are turning a blind eye to sexual assault within their ranks, and survivors of assault deserve better. Please act now to urge President Obama to stand with survivors and fix this broken system. Thank you,
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