Number of reports of sexual assault in US armed forces on the decrease
The drop was driven by a large decrease in cases in the US army while other services saw small rises.
The number of sexual assaults reported across the US military dropped by nearly 4% last year, fuelled by a significant drop in the number of cases in the army, it has been revealed.
It was the second year in a row with a decrease, reversing a troubling trend that has plagued the US Defence Department for more than a decade.
Senior US defence officials said that while the decline is a good sign, the number of reported assaults is still too high and the military needs to do more to get victims to report the often undisclosed crime.
According to the officials, there were 8,195 reported sexual assaults in 2024 involving members of the military, compared with 8,515 in 2023.
In 2022, there were 8,942 reported sexual assaults, a spike that triggered widespread alarm and led to new programmes and an infusion of funding to try to combat the problem.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been publicly released.
According to data obtained by the AP, the overall decrease was due to a 13% drop in reported sexual assaults across the Army, which is the largest military service.
All the other services saw increases. The Navy had the largest jump of 4.3%, while the Air Force had a 2.2% increase and the Marine Corps rose by less than 1%.
Of the 8,195 total, there were 512 service members who reported an assault that happened before they entered the military.
The Pentagon encourages reporting so that victims can get any support they need. In addition, 641 were civilians who said they were assaulted by a member of the military.
While reported assaults decreased, the number of sexual harassment complaints went from 2,980 in 2023 to 3,014 last year. Most were filed by female service members, and the vast majority of those accused were male.
The latest report also reflects the first full year since new prosecution procedures have been in place, putting independent lawyers in charge of those decisions and side-lining commanders after years of pressure from Congress.
The Pentagon releases a report every year on the number of sexual assaults reported by or about troops. But because sexual assault is a highly underreported crime, the department also does a confidential survey every two years to get a clearer picture of the problem.
That survey, which is conducted online, came out last year, so it was not done this year.
Defence officials have long argued that an increase in reported assaults is a positive trend because so many people are reluctant to report them, both in the military and in society as a whole.
Greater reporting, they say, shows there is more confidence in the reporting system and greater comfort with the support for victims.
