President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a historic change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice by transferring key decision-making authorities outside the military chain of command in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder and other serious crimes.
President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a historic change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice by transferring key decision-making authorities outside the military chain of command in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder and other serious crimes.
I know a soldier who got drunk and sexually assaulted a chick one night. She reports it, they run it up the chain of command, and the unit treats the case like shit. He runs fast and does a lot of push ups, so they had him deploy to Afghanistan while he was under investigation. Uh oh now the can't investigate him. Supposedly assaults another soldier while he's out there, but she is too scared to make a report.
A year passes, the chain of command promotes the rapist to SGT, case closed due to 'lack of evidence' and the chick gets discharged with PTSD. God bless 'em.
Promotions are based on performance. After a few promotions, you have people that report to you. This means their performance is your performance. So the CoC properly handling rape allegations is against their own self interest.
There's a documentary called the invisible war that covers this topic in excruciating detail.
Hot take, but as bad as rape is - its nothing compared to the systematic fucking that is still running with flying colours both red and blue.
I'm sure we'll see a million LGBTQ rights and bike lanes before a single major problem is solved - shit even if the FTC broke up a single super monopoly today I'd be suprised.
LGBTQ rights and the damage we're doing with excessive cars are things that need to be addressed and solved though? If people would get over gay people existing and stop being so easily led to outrage about it we'd be done with it by now and moving the fuck on. To the detriment of not a single person. It's an issue because people insist on making it an issue. God forbid you mind your own business and stop worrying about what random people do with their genitals.
Imagine trying to "both sides" something and starting your comment with "as bad as rape is". Both sides my ass. Only one side is trying to make slavery out to be a positive thing for black people (teaching this IN SCHOOLS btw), obsessing over where people take a shit, and trying to make women barefoot and pregnant again. Both sides is a lie people tell themselves to try and pretend there's a valid reason to be a bigot.
Ya I get how it feels like nothing ever gets done, or only the 'little things' but that seems to be how it works. I have some things I harp on about (first past the post voting in Canada) and everything else to me is something small. We all have our major issues we'd like to see handled (anti-trust/corruption is high on my list as well).
But you can still count this as a win and complain about what is left to do. It is a huge deal to some people, for those people it was probably their #1 major issue, potentially life changing. Not you or me, but doesn't mean we have to be angry about that.
And just an aside, but I'd kill for more protected bike lanes. I don't know if you are able to bike where you live, but it makes getting from a to b not a total pain in the ass.
Maybe. But all the reversals are politically motivated so depends how much their base will get hard on reversing it. I'm sure there are other juicier targets for them to get through first. Unless it's Trump. Trump seems to be more interested in the appearance of money and power.
Can someone explain the change to me? I do not understand how it was done before, why that was bad, and how this is different and better. (Things I probably would have included in the article, had I written it)
Historically, these investigations have been handled by the higher-ups in the chain of command. Say one soldier raped another and the victim reported it. Their mutual boss and that boss's bosses would be responsible for any investigation and discipline.
They have the same negative incentive to provide thorough investigation and justice as college campus police do - because in the end it makes them look bad at their jobs and makes the institution that signs their paychecks look bad. So they just don't. Often victims are ignored or worse, disciplined themselves.
This change will provide a third party not involved in the chain of command for reporting and investigation of sexual assault allegations.
Adding to @Chetzemoka@kbin.social comment: The military has a peculiar concept for responsibility in command, such that a senior officer or even NCO could have thier career totally ruined for investigating a rape. Not for other crimes, mind you, but some arcane language held that they could be held culpable for not having prevented the attack. Biden has rather firmly corrected that error.
I gotta say, I had zero expectation of anything from Biden, but he has definitely delivered a few pretty good somethings, and this looks like another one. I hope they have a great day today wherever the Bidens are hanging out.
He said he didn’t “want to bore you with detail here,” but that basically,
“I know it may not sound like much,” Kirby said
The headline grabbed my support. This lines cooled my excitement. Thoughts from others? I feel like maybe the headline isn't as much of a grand slam when I see this kind of waffling.
Saying "key decision-making authorities" sounds like exactly that: key positions. Moving key existing positions out of conflict of interest.
To finish your quote:
He said he didn’t “want to bore you with detail here,” but that basically, “this change required a completely different shift in the way these crimes are investigated and prosecuted by taking them outside the chain of command, which already had existing protocols in place in existing judicial system.”
That really explains it, I don't know why you cut it off.
“I know it may not sound like much,” Kirby said, “but it’s a big change to the way the military did it.”
I think my brain panicked when I saw the start of that first sentence and went into scan mode. Good reminder to read to completion before voicing an opinion. Thanks!
That's the kind of vibe I get from most of the Biden administration's actions. They make for great lists of actions to show that they're doing something, but in practice how effective is it really?