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Military Restricted Reporting Does Not Put Rapists Away
Whenever a new report on sexual assault in the military comes from the Pentagon, no doubt it can be read about on many women’s rights and feminist or womanist blogs. I read how reporting is up or down, and how the Restricted Reporting option is the Best Thing Ever! to happen to women in the military who have been sexually assaulted.
I write about this because I was a military woman and still have friends who are, and I often get backlash about how I must not criticize Restricted Reporting or blame it for assisting in the culture that allows rapists to go free. This concerns me, when I know that 9 out 10 rapists are repeat offenders.
Restricted Reporting is awesome. I sat through hours of training on it when I was active duty, and answered questions about it on advancement exams. It allows a survivor of rape or sexual assault to report the crime to the proper people so that she can get medical care and counseling, while maintaining her privacy, and without requiring her to press charges. Thus, reporting a rape does not necessarily mean starting criminal proceedings. The assailant goes free unless formal charges are filed and he or she is prosecuted in a criminal trial or courts martial. In fact, if the victim is billeted with the assailant, they may continue to work together every day.
Read the rest at Change.org’s Women’s Rights Blog
Photo credit: alancleaver_2000
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=23140
Posted by Brandann R. Hill-Mann on Mar 25 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Restricted Reporting – AWESOME??? WTF?!
The Military does not put Rapists Away, restricted reporting or NOT! How is this awesome? Do you know anyone who used this?
I do. All of them had their stories leaked, and EVERYONE on post knew about it.
Did they get help? No. Why? Because the role of SARC/SAVI/SAPRO is only to “suggest” things to a Company Commander. THEY have absolutely NO power, and can choose to sweep things under the rug, promote the perpetrator, and PUNISH THE VICTIM.
That seems to be the underlying theme.
Of course the perps are repeat offenders! If you only got $125 fine with NO record of any sex crime following you into the civilian world – why wouldn’t you re-offend?
Not to mention that they have “relaxed the laws” regarding convicted sex offenders entering the military.
People! Jeffrey Dalmer was a sex offender. The military had a good idea (or at least my friend who kept reporting him) that there was a problem. Did they kick him out? Let’s look that up.
Below is a copy of the McDowell Checklist. It was specifically created to make the victims recant their stories. Want to be charged with filing false charges? No. Want to be charged with Conduct Unbecoming? No. What about Adultery? Were you or the rapist married at the time of the rape? Well, even though it is a “crime”, the military sees it as “sex.” That only carries a 26 year sentence last I checked. Still want to press charges, Miss?
I have seen over 3,000 men and women who have been sexually assaulted since I started volunteering. ALL of them say “The way the Company Command handled my case, WAS WORSE THAN THE RAPE ITSELF.”
Awesome! Restricted Reporting! Awesome!
Susan Avila-Smith
Military Sexual Trauma Advocacy
http://www.vetwow.com
http://www.packparachute.org
_____________________________________________________________
The McDowell Checklist:
This document was created to “help” law enforcement decide whether a rape allegation is credible. Very telling.
McDowell’s foundation work is used in the military and in civilian police departments, as McDowell himself testified in 1985 US Congressional Hearing on the rape of children, that children and military women are comparable in their honesty, they lie about being raped! According to McDowell’s testimony; of 1,218 cases studied, 460 were forcible rapes; 212 false allegations using this checklist, 546 could not be determined as rape or not, yet, McDowell put the 546 undetermined cases into the false allegation category or not raped. He “analysed rape investigations between 1970 – 1984, approx 341 of those cases were false reports.” Thus making McDowell’s stats of 60% of military women lie. But, McDowell’s false reports went from 212, to 341, and or plus 546? Hard to know how McDowell was counting.
Here’s the Checklist:
RAPE ALLEGATION CHECKLIST
Created by the US Pentagon and
Charles P. McDowell, Ph.D. USAF, OSI
Initial Complaint
Points
1 Was the complaint timely? Y N N=0.5
2 Was the initial complaint made by the victim to a friend? Y N Y=0.5
3 Were law enforcement authorities notified by someone other than the victim? Y N Y=3.0
Nature of the Allegation
4 Does victim report being abducted? Y N Y=0.5
5 Does victim report being intoxicated at the time of the assault? Y N Y=3.0
6 Does victim’s recollection of the details of the assault seem overly broad? Y N Y=0.5
7 Does victim report offering vigorous resistance to her assailant? Y N Y=3.0
8 Is victim able to identify or locate the scene of the assault? Y N N=3.0
9 Does victim report passing out or losing consciousness during the assault? Y N Y=0.5
10 Does victim report waking up (or coming to) and finding her assailant engaging in intercourse with her? Y N Y=0.5
11 Does victim have difficulty in describing the sexual details of the assault? Y N Y=0.5
12 Does victim report anal sex (sodomy)? Y N N=1.0
13 Does victim report forced oral sex (fellatio)? Y N N=0.5
14 Does victim’s story contain any significant changes in subsequent retelling? Y N Y=2.0
15 Does victim describe the assault in flat, unemotional tones? Y N Y=0.5
16 Does victim describe the assault with a sense of relish or enthusiasm? Y N Y=0.5
17 Does victim report being assaulted at gunpoint? Y N Y=3.0
Suspect Description
18 Does victim report being assaulted by multiple assailants? Y N Y=0.5
19 Does victim report her assailant(s) as being of a different race or ethnic group? Y N Y=0.5
20 Does victim report keeping her eyes closed during the assault (and therefore not able to identify her assailant)? Y N Y=0.5
21 Does victim describe her assailant as having an unsavory appearance? Y N Y=0.5
22 Does victim report her assailant wore a mask? Y N Y=0.5
23 Does victim report her assailant wore gloves? Y N Y=0.5
24 Does victim describe her assailant as a person she knows or who is familiar to her but can’t provide a good physical description? Y N Y=3.0
Physical and Medical Evidence
25 Is the crime scene consistent with the story? Y N N=3.0
26 Does victim display any minor sharp weapon injuries (lacerations)? Y N Y=3.0
27 Is the condition of victim’s clothing consistent with her story? Y N N=3.0
28 Does victim present bruises from the assault which are inconsistent in color (age) with the time of the assault? Y N Y=0.5
29 Does victim display any cross-hatching scratches to the face? Y N Y=5.0
30 Does victim display shallow scratches to the face, neck, breasts, thighs or stomach? Y N Y=5.0
31 If scratches are present on the face or breasts, do they cross the eyes, lips or nipples? Y N N=3.0
32 Do any lacerations include hesitation wounds? Y N Y=5.0
33 Does victim display any writing on her body allegedly done by the assailant? Y N Y=5.0
Victim’s attitude
34 Does victim seem ambivalent toward her injuries? Y N Y=0.5
35 Does victim appear to feign emotions when relating details of the assault? Y N Y=0.5
36 Is victim reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement authorities? Y N Y=0.5
37 When telling about the assault, does victim have difficulty explaining anomalies or inconsistencies? Y N Y=0.5
38 Does victim demand to be treated by a female physician or interviewed by a female police officer? Y N Y=1.0
39 Does victim express a desire to “drop” the whole matter or otherwise indicate she does not want it investigated? Y N Y=1.0
40 Does victim become outraged when asked to corroborate her assault? Y N Y=1.0
41 Does victim try to steer the interview into “safe” topics or those that will engender sympathy? Y N Y=0.5
Assailant’s Communications
42 Does victim report receiving obscene phone calls prior to the assault? Y N Y=1.0
43 Does victim report receiving phone calls from the assailant after the assault? Y N Y=1.0
44 Does victim report receiving any kind of written communication from her assailant before, during, or after the assault? Y N Y=1.0
45 If victim has received a written communication, was it a “cut and paste” note? Y N Y=3.0
46 If victim has received written communication, does it contain any kind of rhyming scheme or take the form of poetry? Y N Y=3.0
47 Does victim report being watched (surveilled) by her assailant prior to the assault? Y N Y=0.5
48 Does the victim report being complimented by her assailant during the assault? Y N Y=0.5
Personality and Lifestyle Issues
49 Does victim report engaging in high risk behavior prior to her assault? Y N Y=2.0
50 Does victim have a history of alcohol abuse? Y N Y=3.0
51 Does victim have a history of financial problems? Y N Y=1.0
52 Does victim have a history of mental or emotional problems? Y N Y=3.0
53 Does victim have a significant medical history? Y N Y=2.0
54 Does victim report prior rapes or assaults? Y N Y=2.0
55 Does victim have a history of work-related problems? Y N Y=2.0
56 Does victim have problems in her interpersonal relationships (i.e., with her husband, boyfriend, or others)? Y N Y=3.0
57 Does the allegation solve a problem for the victim? Y N Y=5.0
McDowell’s first premise 60% of women are lying about being raped, despite the FBI’s national stats of 8% are false allegations.
* According to McDowell’s checklist the victim must score below a ZERO to be considered telling the truth about being raped.
SCORING SCALE:
0 – 15: EQUIVOCAL
16 – 35: ALLEGATION PROBABLY FALSE
36 – 75: FALSE ALLEGATION
76 + UP: OVERKILL
Susan, it is obvious that you only read the beginning of my post before getting angry at me for something I neither have no control over nor did. If you had read the whole post you would see that I do not think that the military is doing enough to protect victims, or that RR is even protecting victims enough.
I am quite familiar with the McDowell Checklist, and the ridiculousness that it was. I don’t see how it is relevant anymore, being that it hasn’t been standard for over 20 years… That all being said, RR still provides many options for military victims that would otherwise be unavailable. It allows them to get counseling and medical attention, and that is what should be the primary focus — healing for the victim. What a rape survivor wants should be paramount, and I have in the past criticized RR for that (this post is a response to that).
I don’t need you to ‘splain things to me and drop your creds here. I already am aware that rape victims are given little credit when they actually go through with pressing charges (again, I believe I linked to something to that effect). I would kindly ask you to read my entire posts or following links before angrily accusing me of not having background knowledge. I understand that your experiences must be frustrating, but they are not universal.
Many people (also who have experience similar to that which you claim) would argue that RR would be helpful in the civilian world, especially college campuses, because it would help victims get those important steps towards healing and allow evidence to be collected and saved all with an iota of privacy (and yes, I am aware of the possibility of leaks — I served only at small, joint service commands).
I offered this post in lieu of a *flail* because I understand the the military does little in the way of actually protecting the victims of sexual assault or putting away rapists.
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