Under new law, military kids get sex assault protections

The Defense Department must improve the way it responds to child-onchild sexual assault at military bases in the U.S. and abroad as part of a sweeping new law President Donald Trump signed Monday.

While the Pentagon began addressing sexual assault in the ranks a decade ago, an Associated Press investigation revealed that similar reports involving military kids got lost in a dead zone of justice. Child offenders were rarely held accountable — even when they confessed — and victims often received no counseling or other help.

Under the new law, more than 70,000 students in Pentagon-run schools now receive the same legal protections as their U.S. public school counterparts. The schools also must overhaul their system for tracking and addressing assault allegations.

And, for the first time, a case must be reviewed by a central authority, regardless of where on base an assault is reported.

That review by the Family Advocacy Program, the military’s social services provider, must recommended “treatment, counseling, or other appropriate interventions.”

AP found that some child-on-child sexual assault reports were buried, while those that were investigated faced numerous barriers to justice within the Pentagon and Justice Department.

Counselors would turn away victims, for example, because military regulations said help was available only if the alleged offender was an adult or caretaker. Offender rehabilitation or punishment was rare. Instead, go-to solutions included kicking alleged offenders into the civilian world or transferring their families to another installation.