HONOLULU (AP) - A decade after the Pentagon began confronting rape in the ranks, the U.S. military frequently fails to provide justice to the children of service members when they are sexually assaulted by other kids on base.
An Associated Press investigation finds that sex assault cases occurring where military kids live and learn often die on the desks of prosecutors. Criminal investigators shelved an unknown number of reports.
Instead of punishment or rehabilitation, young offenders may be shuffled into the civilian world.
In Hawaii, AP documented at least six cases on Marine or Navy bases since 2007. The Army disclosed no reports at Schofield Barracks, Oahu’s most populous base. The Pentagon doesn’t know the extent of the problem, and the Army acknowledged records it provided are incomplete.
Pentagon officials promised “appropriate actions.”
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