Peer Sexual Assault: In the Military, Sex Crimes Can Occur Inter-Unit

Interviewer: In the sex crimes realm, what are the specific sex crimes frequently attributed to military members?

Chris Cazares: By far the most prevalent military sex crimes is going to be committed soldier-on-soldier, essentially what is considered acquaintance sexual assault or peer sexual assault. It normally has alcohol involved.

What you’re going to see most commonly is the same pattern over and over. The scenario will involve two younger members; they’re going to go have drinks together and they end up having sexual intercourse. The following day the female may or may not report it to her superior command, but if she does, the male will become part of an investigation.

The Female Military Member Will Believe Her Refusal Was Evident

As the process itself plays out, you end up hearing a lot of the same thing which female may have believed that she was clear about not being interested in having sex.

She may not have verbalized and she may not have shown it through any actual display but she expected the male to know about. There may have been kissing, there may have been mutual fondling.

The Impression of the Male Military Member Was That Relations Were Consensual

The reason that’s important because the impression of the other military member was he believed it was consensual sex, because that’s important.

This Lack of Knowledge or Mistaken Fact Is a Component in the Defense of a Sexual Assault Crime

It brings up the specifics in defense of lack of knowledge or mistaken fact. If he reasonably believed that it was consensual sex, so long as it was a reasonable belief, that’s a defense to sexual assault.

You see that play off thousands of times over the course of the United States, in college or dating situations and it’s just a very common theme in military sexual assault as well.