{"id":17379,"date":"2022-01-19T22:49:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T22:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/19\/the-national-guards-sexual-assault-investigation-office-has-limited-power-to-get-justice\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:58:50","slug":"the-national-guards-sexual-assault-investigation-office-has-limited-power-to-get-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/01\/19\/the-national-guards-sexual-assault-investigation-office-has-limited-power-to-get-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Guard\u2019s sexual assault investigation office has limited power to get justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part-time troops under state authority are caught in a legal quagmire when they\u2019re sexually assaulted by a fellow service member<\/a>: If local law enforcement refuses to prosecute, the National Guard has a special office to investigate, but only if state leadership seeks it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike active-duty troops, National Guard members aren\u2019t subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice unless they are activated by the president, meaning those units can\u2019t convene hearings or trials when one of their members sexually assaults a colleague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo longer can the National Guard hide behind their unique status,\u201d Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Wednesday, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. \u201cTo the National Guard: The spotlight of Congress is on you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They do have the Office of Complex Investigations, an organization set up specifically to review assault reports when civilian authorities opt not to press charges. The issue is that the state chain-of-command has to contact that office, and they don\u2019t necessarily do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd [an adjutant general] … who has a number of sexual assault cases that occur under their command, becomes loath to report them, or seek the assistance of OCI for fear that it might reflect poorly on them,\u201d Speier said. \u201cAnd sometimes, they are the assaulter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier pointed directly to a spate of cases in Wisconsin, where the state\u2019s justice department announced last year that it wouldn\u2019t file charges after reviewing about 30 mishandled cases. A dozen of those were thrown out because of the statute of limitations had passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t