[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3019-3020]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STOP MILITARY RAPE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise again this morning to highlight the 
epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military. I'm here to decry 
a code of dishonor that protects rapists and punishes victims. I'm here 
to call out an entrenched chain of command that squashes reports of 
sexual assault because they bring unwanted attention to the unit.

[[Page 3020]]

  I stand here today, as I have 15 previous times, to tell the story of 
a U.S. servicemember who was raped by a fellow servicemember and then 
robbed of justice by an unfair system that puts too much power in the 
hands of a single commander.
  The current system of injustice is shamefully unfair. The story I'm 
about to tell is of Airman First Class Jessica Nicole Hinves of the 
United States Air Force, whose attempt for justice was snatched away by 
a single commander who was only on the job for 4 days and reversed a 
decision to move forward with a court-martial.
  The Department of Defense estimates that more than 19,000 
servicemembers were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010, yet only 13 
percent of them actually reported the rape; and of those 13 percent, 
only 8 percent of the perpetrators were prosecuted and an even smaller 
number were convicted.
  Airman First Class Jessica Nicole Hinves, a former member of the Air 
Force, was raped in 2009 by a coworker who broke into her room through 
the bathroom at approximately 3:00 a.m. She sought medical care and 
bravely reported the rape. Friends of the rapist began harassing her, 
but Airman Hinves was not intimidated. She rightly pursued the matter 
through the military's justice system, and the rapist was scheduled to 
stand trial in his court-martial.
  But the airman who raped Airman Hinves was never prosecuted. His new 
commander intervened and halted the court-martial. The new commander 
had only been on the job for 4 days and had no legal training, but 
still he dismissed the prosecution and the man who raped Airman Hinves 
never was brought to justice. Only 4 days on the job, and the new 
commander intervened in the judicial proceedings.
  So what happened next? Well, the rapist was given the award for 
Airman of the Quarter, and Airman Hinves, who was then transferred to 
another base, now suffers from severe panic attacks and anxiety.
  Who can blame a victim for not wanting to report a rape or other 
humiliating assault? The current process for adjudicating sexual 
assault and rape in the military is shockingly unjust and is more 
likely to punish a victim than a perpetrator.
  Airman Hinves was the victim of a violent crime. In response, she did 
everything right. But one commander's decision stood in the way of a 
fair proceeding against the perpetrator.
  In the current military chain of command, commanders can issue 
virtually any punishment or, in this case, the rapist was not punished 
at all because the command has complete authority and discretion over 
how a degrading and violent assault under their command is handled.
  Command discretion empowers the commander to decide if a case goes 
forward to court-martial. The same commander is empowered to determine 
which JAG officer will serve as prosecutor, which will serve as defense 
counsel, who oversees the investigation, and even serve as convening 
authority and, in nonjudicial cases, determine disciplinary action. All 
these functions are given to the discretion of one person. Simply put, 
command discretion sets up a dynamic fraught with conflict of interest 
and potential abuse of power.
  This chain of command must be disrupted. We can no longer accept that 
victims of rape and abuse are beholden to the judgment of a single 
superior. Instead, victims should have the benefit of impartiality by 
objective experts, which is what my bill, H.R. 3435, the STOP Act does.
  The STOP Act would take the prosecution, reporting, oversight, 
investigation, and victim care of sexual assaults out of the hands of 
the normal chain of command and place the jurisdiction in the hands of 
an impartial office staffed by experts, both military and civilian, but 
retain it in the military.
  Now you've heard the story of Airman Hinves. I will continue to tell 
stories like hers until this broken system is fixed. I promise to 
continue to speak out for those who have been victims of sexual assault 
or rape in the military.
  I urge you to write me at [email protected].

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