President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that will implement military justice reforms previously passed by Congress.
The order will amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice, established in 1950, transferring relevant decision-making authority from commanders to specialized and independent military prosecutors for cases involving sexual assault, ethnic violence, child abuse, and murder, among other serious crimes.
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The new Offices of Special Trial Counsel have already been stood up for each of the service branches though they will not assume authority for prosecutorial decisions until Dec. 27, according to a senior administration official. These decisions will be completely independent of the chain of command.
Biden was forced to implement these changes because they were included in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which was based on the recommendations of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military.
Sexual violence has been a problem in the military for decades that still continue to this day despite activists’ and lawmakers’ efforts for years, though Friday’s executive order represents a major victory for them.
The Defense Department’s Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military for fiscal 2022, which was released in April, revealed there were 8,942 sexual assault reports filed from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022, up 1% from the 8,866 sexual assault reports filed the previous fiscal year. There was a much larger jump, a 13% increase, in 2021 from the previous year.
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The Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force saw a 9%, 3.6%, and 13% increase in reports, respectively, while the Army was the only branch to report a decrease, which decreased by 9%. The Army’s decrease countered balanced the increases from the other service branches.
“To be crystal clear, the department’s most senior leaders remain sharply focused on solving the scourge of sexual assault and sexual harassment,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at the time the report was released. “We’ll continue to work very hard to make sustained progress to bolster warfighter confidence and leadership, assist sexual assault survivors with recovery, and hold offenders accountable. Sexual violence will not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored within our ranks.”
