FACT SHEET

DOD SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE STRATEGIC PLAN & ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE MILITARY FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 May 7, 2013

2013 DoD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Strategic Plan

The Department of Defense (DoD) Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Strategic Plan was first published in 2009. The 2013 DoD SAPR Strategic Plan updates the previous plan, and is intended to achieve unity of effort and purpose across the department in the execution of sexual assault prevention and response efforts. This plan defines strategic SAPR lines of effort, objectives, and initiatives, and serves to synchronize the departments multi-disciplinary SAPR approach. The 2013 DoD SAPR Strategic Plan provides authoritative guidance to all DoD stakeholders. This plan aligns with and operationalizes the key tasks defined in the Joint Chiefs of Staffs Strategic Direction to the Joint Force (May 2012). The Joint Chiefs identified five lines of effort: Prevention, Investigation, Accountability, Advocacy, and Assessment. The 2013 DoD SAPR Strategic Plan adopts this approach. The primary measures of effectiveness for the SAPR program are the reduction of sexual assault prevalence (as measured by DoD-wide surveys), while increasing the number of victims who step forward and report. The department will conduct an annual review of this plan for task accuracy, accomplishment, and revision.

Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military

Annually, as required by the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, the department released Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. This is the ninth report issued by DoD. In fiscal 2012, there were a total of 3,374 reports of sexual assaults involving service members as either victims or subjects. These reports involved offenses ranging from rape to abusive sexual contact. This represents an increase from the 3,192 reports received in fiscal year 11. Reporting Trends Restricted and Unrestricted Reports: Of the 3,374 reports of sexual assault received in FY12, 816 reports remained restricted at the end of the year. A restricted report is not investigated, per the victims request. This allows the victim to obtain care and services without alerting command or criminal investigators. No prosecution results from a Restricted Report unless the victim converts to an unrestricted report and elects to participate in the military justice process. There were 2,558 unrestricted reports of sexual assault investigated in FY 12. Accountability:
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Each year, a significant portion of alleged sexual assault offenders are outside the legal authority of the department because they are unidentified, are civilians or foreign nationals, are service members being prosecuted by a civilian or foreign authority, or had allegations against them unfounded (determined to be false or baseless). Of the 1,714 alleged offenders under the legal authority of the department, commanders had sufficient evidence of a crime to take action against 66 percent of them (in the form of a courtmartial charge, nonjudicial punishment or adverse administrative actions and discharges) -- an increase from 57 percent in FY 09.

Disciplinary Action: Of the subjects whose criminal investigations finished in FY12: 36 percent were outside the legal authority of the department. 64 percent were under the legal authority of the department o Commanders had sufficient evidence to take action against 66 percent of these subjects in the form of court-martial charge preferrals, nonjudicial punishments, adverse administrative actions and discharges. This represents an increase from 59 percent in Fiscal Year 09. o 34 percent of subjects under DoD legal authority could not be prosecuted because of evidence problems associated with their cases. Of the subjects whose court-martials concluded in FY12: o 79 percent were convicted of at least one charge (a consistent conviction rate since FY09). o 19 percent had their charges dismissed (down from 25 percent in FY11). o 25 percent were granted a discharge or resignation in lieu of court-martial. The complete report is available at http://www.sapr.mil .