WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of reported sexual assaults involving students at three military service academies went down in the most recent school year, capping a year that saw the military continue to struggle with high-profile cases among leaders and in the schools.
A new Pentagon report finds that there were 61 reported sexual assaults at the academies in the 2013-14 school year, compared with 70 in 2012-13. The report includes the results of an anonymous survey that shows a similar decrease in the number of students who say they experienced unwanted sexual contact.
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At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, an Army sergeant was sentenced to jail and given a bad-conduct discharge last year after he was accused of secretly photographing at least a dozen women, including in a bathroom where they were in various states of undress. At the Naval Academy, a highly publicized case involving sexual assault charges against members of the football team wrapped up last March. Charges were dropped against two of the men and the third was acquitted.
Meanwhile, some military officers have been fired from their jobs in the past year as a result of inappropriate sexual relationships or assault charges.
