Sex assault reports up by 50% as students return to Military academies in 2020/21

Sex assault reports up by 50% as students return to Military academies in 2020/21
West Point Cadets stand at attention during the dedication of a statue in West Point Military Academy on September 10, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The end of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a massive spike in sexual assault reports at military academies, it was reported on February 17, 2022. The 2020/21 academic year was the worst-ever on record for such reports since the Department of Defence began tracking them in 2005. The news seems to align with sexual assault reports in the US Military, which have frequently been dubbed an "epidemic."

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In 2018, sexual assaults were up 40% from 2016 across all branches of the US military. Such cases can often have damning consequences, like the suicide of Morgan Robinson in 2018, after reportedly being gang-raped while on deployment to Afghanistan. In April 2019, the US Navy found a hidden camera inside the women's bathroom of the USS Arlington. These are just some of the many ways sexual assault manifests itself in the military.