The 19th: How a recent court opinion could clear the way for military sexual assault survivors to find justice
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The 19th – August 24, 2022
By Mariel Padilla
Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel who served as the former chief prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force, said that the court opinion is “potentially massively significant.”
“The military has argued — in my mind, unbelievably — that rape and sexual assault are incident to service,” said Christensen, now president of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group dedicated to ending sexual violence in the military. “At least the 9th Circuit put out some pretty strong language that there’s no way that a rape or sexual assault can serve a military purpose. There’s nothing unique about rape and sexual assault that requires military expertise to abjudicate.”
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