Military rape fix is no fix at all: Column

     In the column “Military Rape Fix is No Fix at All” by John D. Altenburg Jr. a retired Army Major General and lecturer at George Washington University Law School. The Ret. Maj. Gen. argues that taking away the authority of commanders to prosecute crimes under their command would undermine their authority (this is very important in the military to ensure instant willing obedience to orders). While Congress has called for reform and cite countries like Australia, Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom who have removed the responsibility to prosecute serious sexual crimes from commanders in order to increase prosecution of those accused of these crimes. Altenburg cites that these countries are poor examples and currently the United States military prosecutes these heinous crimes at much higher rates than these close allies. Altenburg frames his argument through argument by example and authority the example he uses is comparing our current system of the Uniform Code of Military justice and the responsibility of discipline to commanders compared with our close allies who have removed command authority to prosecute. While both systems result in prosecution Altenburg argues that the US’s prosecution rates are much higher and that Congress is trying to fix a system that is not broken, he recognizes that some cases commanders have blatantly made poor decisions in prosecution and even says that those commanders should be reprimanded or removed on an individual basis, the whole system is not broken just a few weak links. His authority comes from the fact he is a retired Army Major General and clearly has many years of experience managing troops and he is also a lecturer at George Washington University of Law as well as the associate dean of academic affairs.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/11/05/military-rape-sexual-assault-column/3449279/