US military reports major spike in sex assaults

Washington, May 2 (IANS) The US military has reported a major spike in sexual assaults, with 20,500 instances of unwanted sexual contact in 2018, despite years of efforts to address the problem.

The figures are up from 14,900 in 2016 which is the last time a survey was conducted. Alcohol was involved in one third of cases and most victims were female recruits ages 17 to 24.

The report released on Thursday surveyed the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and found 20,500 cases in 2018.

Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan told Congress he plans to "criminalize" military sex assault, the BBC reported.

Incidents of unwanted sexual contact -- ranging from groping to rape -- rose by around 38 per cent between 2016 and 2018. Only one out of three cases were reported to authorities, the report found.

In more than 85 per cent of cases, victims knew their attacker. The majority of cases involved young women whose attacker was often a superior officer.

The report should be "a trip wire", said Nate Galbreath, Deputy Director of the Department of Defence's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

"This is what tells us that there's something going on that we need to hone in on," he told ABC News.

"We've got a higher prevalence for women 17 to 24. We're going to be focusing very, very tightly on that."

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's personnel panel, told the USA Today newspaper that the military "must accept that current programmes are simply not working".

"Congress must lead the way in forcing the department to take more aggressive approaches to fighting this scourge," she said, calling for intervention from US lawmakers.

Senator McSally, who was the first female US fighter pilot to fly in combat, revealed in March that she had been raped by a superior officer while serving in the Air Force.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)