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West Point had the highest incidence of sexual misconduct, with
10.5 percent of the academy’s 596 female cadets (63 women)
reporting some form of unwanted sexual contact during the 2006
school year according to a survey of military academies
conducted by the Pentagon Defense Manpower Data Center. The
assaults included sodomy, fondling of genitalia and rape,
according to the Times Herald-Record. Fifteen percent of
West Point’s 4,000 cadets are women.
Meanwhile, the survey found that 9.5 percent of female cadets at
the Air Force Academy in Colorado and 8.2 percent of female
midshipmen at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD experienced
unwanted sexual contact. In 2005 the percentages were 6 percent
at West Point, 5 percent at the Naval Academy and 4 percent at
the Air Force Academy. While the percentages in 2006 were
significantly higher than in 2005, year-to-year comparisons
cannot be made because the Pentagon broadened the definition of
sexual assault in the 2006 survey instrument, according to
Defense Department officials. It wasn’t until 2006 that cadets
were asked specifically about “unwanted sexual contact,”
according to the Times Herald-Record.
The report also found that 60 percent of West Point female
cadets experienced sexual harassment in 2006, compared to 52
percent at the Naval Academy and 51 percent at the Air Force
Academy.
Sources:
“West Point Cited by Pentagon for Sexual Assault of Female
Cadets," Times Herald Record, January 13, 2007.
“Sexual Misconduct Continues, But Academy Shows Progress,”
Baltimore Sun, January 17, 2007. |
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