WASHINGTON – A new report finds that more U.S. service members say they faced retribution for filing sexual assault or harassment complaints last year than in 2016, as the Defense Department saw a growing number of sexual misconduct cases.
The annual Pentagon report released Monday says there were 146 reports of retaliation last year, compared to 84 in 2016. And the number of sexual harassment complaints jumped by 16 percent. Nearly two-thirds of the harassment cases that were resolved were substantiated.
The increase in misconduct cases came in a year that also saw the number of reported sexual assaults across the military grow by about 10 percent. The Associated Press reported last week that there were 6,769 reports of sexual assaults in 2017, compared to 6,172 in 2016.
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