The outbreak of violence by individuals who seek to harm other persons or institutions cannot be reliably predicted today, the Defense Science Board said in a new report to the Secretary of Defense. Instead, efforts to counter violence should focus on prevention and mitigation of the threat.

The DSB was created and tasked in response to MAJ Hasan and the Fort Hood shootings. But does the report have important learning points in regard to sexual assault prevention.

h/t Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy

Here is an interesting article about the “discussion” about prison sexual assault. Can the same be said for non prison sexual assault views.

Engendering Rape Kim Shayo Buchanan* 59 UCLA L. Rev. 1630 Download Article:

Abstract

This Article highlights a systematic bias in the academic, correctional, and human rights discourse that constitutes the basis for prison rape policy reform. This discourse focuses almost exclusively on sexual abuse perpetrated by men: sexual abuse of male prisoners by fellow inmates, and sexual abuse of women prisoners by male staff. But since 2007, survey and correctional data have indicated that the main perpetrators of prison sexual abuse seem to be women. In men’s facilities, inmates report much more sexual victimization by female staff than by male inmates; in women’s facilities, inmates report much higher rates of sexual abuse by fellow inmates than by male or female staff. These findings contravene conventional gender expectations, and are barely acknowledged in contemporary prison rape discourse, leading to policy decisions that are too sanguine about the likelihood of female-perpetrated sexual victimization. The selective blindness of prison rape discourse to counter-stereotypical forms of abuse illuminates a pattern of reasoning I describe as “stereotype reconciliation,” an unintentional interpretive trend by which surprising, counter-stereotypical facts are reconciled with conventional gender expectations. The authors of prison rape discourse tend to ignore these counter-stereotypical facts or to invoke alternative stereotypes, such as heterosexist notions of romance or racialized rape tropes, in ways that tend to rationalize their neglect of counter-stereotypical forms of abuse and reconcile those abuses with conventional expectations of masculine domination and feminine submission.

* Kim Shayo Buchanan is Associate Professor at USC Gould School of Law.

Uncomfortable Places, Close Spaces: Female Correctional Workers’ Sexual Interactions With Men and Boys in Custody Brenda V. Smith* 59 UCLA L. Rev. 1690 Download Article:

Abstract

It is well known that sexual abuse occurs within the correctional system. That female correctional staff commit a significant proportion of that sexual abuse is met with discomfort bordering on disbelief. This discomfort has limited the discourse about female correctional workers who abuse men or boys under their care. Scant scholarship exists that addresses the appropriate response to sexual abuse by women; even less addresses sexual abuse by female correctional workers. Likewise, feminist jurisprudence on sexuality and desire does little to illuminate the motivations of women who engage in sexual misconduct or abuse, much less women who abuse men or boys in custodial settings. What the literature does acknowledge is that female sex offenders receive less-harsh sanctions overall than male sex offenders; they are even less likely to be prosecuted or punished when the victim is male and in custody. Additionally, although female correctional workers have access to significant power by virtue of their roles, that power may be diminished by a confluence of gender, race, and class. The literature also acknowledges that female correctional staff’s entry into the correctional system was a great success for reformist feminists and that women have become power players within the correctional system because of their ability to supervise both women and men. Despite this status, however, women still experience sexual discrimination and harassment, both from male staff members and from male inmates. For black female correctional workers, gender discrimination is compounded by race and class discrimination.

This Article examines female-perpetrated sexual abuse in custodial settings and its place at the intersection of race, class, and gender in order to disentangle complex and overlapping narratives of abuse, sex, desire, and transgression. Ultimately, this Article confronts our discomfort with and reluctance to acknowledge the fact that women sexually abuse men and boys in custody, and it offers possible explanations for these behaviors.

* Brenda V. Smith is Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law and the Director for the Project on Addressing Prison Rape.

In particular I recommend:

Reporting the Alleged Rape On the night of the alleged rape, after returning to the barracks, AN P did not report the rape or tell anyone what happened. Id. at 548. Seaman (SN) M testified, contrary to AN P’s testimony, that the next day, a smiling AN P pulled him aside, told him “we did it,” and explained that she and the appellant had feelings for each other. Id. at 1146. In the next few days, AN P discovered that rumors were spreading about her being in a hotel room with the appellant. Id. at 552, 570, 592. SN C testified that he had previously counseled AN P when she told him she “liked” the appellant, a married man. Id. at 551, 676, 688. When he confronted her with the new rumors and she explained her version of events, he reported it to the command. Id. at 683. AN P testified that she would not report it because she was afraid she would get into trouble or be kicked out of the Navy for being in a hotel room with a married man. Id. at 552-55, 572, 683. AN P testified that about a week after the alleged rape, upon learning she would not get in trouble as long as she was not “cooperating” with the appellant, she reported the incident, when confronted by a SAVI advocate, a chief, and a member of law enforcement. Id. at 572. The manner in which the rape was reported raises further doubt as to why AN P made the accusation.

Capt Kelly Repair and I had an acquittal on similar facts a few months ago. The difference in our case was that the complaining witness had told her friend she might have sex with the client before they actually went on their date. And afterwords she said she wouldn’t mind doing it again. Oddly enough she didn’t tell NCIS that she and the client had stopped off to get condoms on the way to the hotel, and odder still NCIS didn’t ask apparently. It was right there in her statement to a command investigator given several months before the rape report. Fortunately for the client a smart Staff NCO did a good investigation and had her admissions to the condom purchase. Thanks to a very thorough command investigation done by the senior Staff NCO before NCIS got involved the facts were fully developed, including a second motive to lie. Unlike Ruiz the client does have a conviction for adultery, and some other sexual misconduct.

The senior Staff NCO started out thinking he was investigating a fraternization and adultery case with alcohol involved. As a result of his investigation the complaining witness was informed of a summary court-martial. About that time she attended the new and improved sexual assault training and got her road map on how to complain. Sure enough her summary court-martial went away. This is the same case I posted on earlier about the voir dire. In this same case all the members had been to sexual assault training. Eight had been to the same command training within a few months of trial. Six of those eight came away with this “rule” or thought, “one drink means a woman can’t consent,” or words to that effect. The Service HQ representative testified that’s not what they are supposed to be taught. The military judge characterized the trainor as a “rogue trainer,” who obviously didn’t follow the training guide and denied a group challenge. But the military judge gave a very strong curative instruction to the members about alcohol and consent, which I have to admit must have worked. Of course I don’t think it helped the prosecution that the complaining witness had gotten together with the accused a few nights after the later to be alleged rape at the on-base hotel.

The Navy has just announced a program to cut down on sexual assault offenses. Look for more of these types of cases.