WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, supported passage of bipartisan legislation that would implement new, tough, and robust reforms to aggressively combat sexual assault in the military.

“Today, we took a significant step toward making policy that will increase accountability, empower victims, and ensure that more perpetrators are brought to justice for their crimes,” Senator King said. “The only sure, long-term way to confront and defeat this tragic problem is to change the military culture so that sexual assault becomes unacceptable – period. The Victims Protection Act makes much-needed and far-reaching reforms to the military justice system to achieve that goal.”

The Victims Protection Act of 2014, authored by Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), strengthens a series of groundbreaking reforms that were passed in the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by:

• Eliminating the Good Soldier Defense: Modifies the Military Rules of Evidence to prevent defendants from using good military character unless it is directly relevant to an element of the crime for which they are charged

• Allowing Victim Input in Prosecution of Perpetrators: Requires Special Victims Counsels to advise victims of the advantages and disadvantages of a case being prosecuted in the military or civilian justice system and provides victims the opportunity to express their preference on where the case is heard, giving a victim a greater degree of control of his or her case.

• Allowing Sexual Assault Victims to Challenge Their Discharge or Separation from Service: Requires the services to set up a confidential process that will enable a victim of a sexual assault who was subsequently discharged to challenge the terms or characterization of his or her discharge-in order to take a retrospective look at possible instances of retaliation.

• Strengthening the Role of the Prosecutor in Advising Commanders on Going to Court Martial: In the event a prosecutor recommends a case go forward and the commander disagrees, under the legislation, the case is kicked up for review to the civilian service secretary, providing yet another level of review in these cases when needed. Existing law currently requires the higher-level review only when there is disagreement between the commander and his or her legal counsel/judge advocate.

• Boosting Accountability of Commanders for Addressing Sexual Assault & Setting Appropriate Command Climate: Strengthens evaluations for commanding officers and the command climate they establish as it relates to allegations of sexual assault and the way victims of crimes are treated within the unit following reports.

• Extending Protections to the Military Service Academies: Clarifies that all changes related to sexual assault prevention and response apply to the military service academies.

The provisions passed today supplemented a slate of sweeping and historic reforms supported by Senator King and adopted as part of the 2014 NDAA, including bipartisan, bicameral provisions that significantly boosted accountability for perpetrators and protections for survivors. Those reforms, which have been signed into law by President Obama, will:

• Strip commanders of their ability to overturn jury convictions
• Require civilian review if a commander declines to prosecute a case
• Assign victims their own independent legal counsel to protect their rights and fight for their interests
• Criminalize retaliation against victims who report a sexual assault
• Mandate dishonorable discharge or dismissal for anyone convicted of sexual assault
• Eliminate the statute of limitations in these cases

An independent panel of policy experts created by Congress – a majority of whom are civilian and a majority of whom are women – undertook the first comprehensive analysis of the proposal to remove senior commanding officers from the decision to prosecute military sexual assault cases. Following testimony from more than 150 witnesses, the Response Systems Panel ultimately voted decisively to reject the proposal. No other independent experts have done similarly comprehensive work on this issue. 

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