Pentagon: Reports of sexual assaults up 46 percent

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http://hamptonroads.com/2013/11/pentagon-reports-sexual-assaults-46-percent

Pentagon: Reports of sexual assaults up 46 percent
By Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press
© November 7, 2013

WASHINGTON

Reports of sexual assaults in the military increased by an unprecedented 46 percent during the last fiscal year, the Pentagon said Thursday.

It wasn't possible to know whether the spike represented an increase in assaults, an increase in the percentage of people reporting them, or both. Defense Department officials portrayed the sharp increase as a sign that people are more confident about coming forward now that improvements are being made to the military's system for handling assaults.

There were 3,553 sexual assault complaints from October 2012 through June, compared to 2,434 reports during the same period the previous year, according to statistics presented Thursday at the start of a two-day public meeting of an independent panel looking into the issue

The report to the so-called Response Systems Panel said an increase in reports was registered across all service branches — Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. And it noted that, while statistics for the full fiscal year are not yet available, there were more reports of sexual assault in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2013 than the 3,374 reported during the entire 2012 budget year.