Politics & Government
Reports Of Sexual Abuse Up At Coast Guard Academy
A recent survey of female cadets found that sexual abuse and harassment increased last year.
NEW LONDON, CT - Unwated sexual contact among female cadets increased from 8 percent to 12.4 percent last year, The Connecticut Mirror reported. Forty-five percent of female cadets also said they were sexually harassed last year, compared to 36 percent in 2016.
The data was compiled in the 2018 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey, which will be finalized in April.
The findings were similar to those at the nation's other military academies - the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy - revealed in a Pentagon report. Female cadets at these academies said that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact at a rate of 50 percent more than in 2016, The Connecticut Mirror reported.
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Advocates for victims are pushing Congress to take action in how these cases are prosecuted. In a Congressional hearing, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., called the Pentagon's findings "a scathing indictment of the academies' culture."
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