Senators calling for another vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act after learning Senate held its previous votes under the influence of false and misleading information from DoD… The Military Justice Improvement Act would remove serious crimes from the chain of command – reversing fear & inherent bias currently plaguing system
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U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) along with a bipartisan group of Senators will hold a press conference Tuesday, May 24, at 11 a.m., urging the Senate to pass the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act, an amendment that will be offered to the National Defense Authorization Act that would establish an impartial, fair, and accountable military justice system to address the crisis of sexual assault.
Date: Tuesday, May 24
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: SVC-209, Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, D.C.
Background on the Military Justice Improvement Act:
The Military Justice Improvement Act would remove sole decision-making authority over whether serious crimes move forward to trial from the chain of command to independent, trained military prosecutors. According to the latest Department of Defense survey, three out of four service members did not have enough trust in the system to report an assault; and one in seven survivors were assaulted by someone in their chain of command.
The Senators are calling for another vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act after learning that the Senate held its previous votes under the influence of false and misleading information. The Department of Defense appears to have willfully misled Congress by telling lawmakers that sexual assault survivors’ faith in the system is increasing, despite statistics showing the opposite. Fewer sexual assault victims this year were willing to put their names on reports seeking justice, compared to last year; and the percentage of victims willing to openly report the crimes against them declined for the past five years.