Biden signs executive order making sexual harassment an offense in military's judicial code

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by GoAskAlice

(CNN) President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order designating sexual harassment as an offense in the US military's judicial code.

Biden took the step after it was included in this year's National Defense Authorization Act

A provision in the NDAA required that the President take this step to make sexual harassment an "offense punishable," in the Uniform Code of Military Justice within 30 days of the bill becoming law. Biden signed that bill into law at the end of December.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this change was a "key recommendation" from the Defense Department's Independent Review Commission on Military Sexual Assault. The commission released about 80 recommendations to reform the military justice system's handling of these issues in 2021. The Pentagon said they would implement all of the recommendations in September.

This year's National Defense Authorization Act, an annual must-pass piece of legislation that authorizes Department of Defense spending, included several changes to how sexual harassment and assault are prosecuted within the US military.

Along with designating sexual harassment as a separate offense, the NDAA changed how sexual harassment complaints are handled within the military. Military commanders now have to forward complaints of sexual harassment to independent investigators.

Commanders have also been removed from "decisions related to the prosecution of covered crimes," which include rape, sexual assault, murder and manslaughter. Those decisions will instead be moved to an Office of the Special Trial Counsel that will be created in each service, the NDAA states.

Even though the NDAA made several changes to the way the military handles sexual assault and harassment, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, ultimately voted against the legislation, arguing it did not go far enough to reform the system. Gillibrand has been an outspoken advocate of reforming the military justice system and has spearheaded legislation to change the system.

"While there's no doubt that those are important advances, this bill does not reform the military justice system in a way that will truly help survivors get justice," Gillibrand said in December.

The White House called this year's NDAA "a historical point ... with meaningful reform of the military justice system and handling of handling of sexual assault cases."

"The President believes that this legislation takes groundbreaking steps to improve the response and ... prevention of sexual assault in the military," White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with the President to Kansas City, Missouri in December.

Robert Capovilla, a partner at Capovilla & Williams and a former US Army Judge Advocate, believes this step sends a clear message to military service members that allegations of sexual harassment will be taken seriously.

"It sends a message from our President, our Commander in Chief, that sexual harassment allegations are going to be taken very seriously," Capovilla said. "I think any intent to eradicate sexual assault or harassment from the ranks is a good step and certainly a necessary step."

k5pr312 on January 30th, 2022 at 15:56 UTC »

STOP AWARDING ME FOR DOING MY JOB pls, they are appreciated though

Jesus Christ finally,

My first run in with the SHARP (sexual harassment assault response prevention) process was a goddamn nightmare.

A soldier of mine was assaulted, and it took me a few weeks to convince them to report it, but per regulation you can't report after 30 days, so they almost were unable to even get it brought up

Then, it took me and another NCO almost two weeks to get the task force commander to take it seriously, which is the important part of the new changes

Two fucking weeks of us constantly calling trying to get ahold of sergeant majors, colonels and at one point we even tried to talk to a general to get this taken care of because this turd of a commander "didn't want controversy in his task force" because the soldier who was assaulted was young and pretty and fresh from AIT

Almost a year later, I finally testified about what I had witnessed from the offending party prior to the assault

I really don't want to know how many more SHARP cases were dismissed because this fucking chode of a task force commander didn't want them reported

RDT6923 on January 30th, 2022 at 15:35 UTC »

Along with designating sexual harassment as a separate offense, the NDAA changed how sexual harassment complaints are handled within the military. Military commanders now have to forward complaints of sexual harassment to independent investigators. Commanders have also been removed from "decisions related to the prosecution of covered crimes," which include rape, sexual assault, murder and manslaughter. Those decisions will instead be moved to an Office of the Special Trial Counsel that will be created in each service, the NDAA states.

mike_pants on January 30th, 2022 at 13:28 UTC »

In today's episode of "Why had this not been done before?"