Legal Filings

Legal Filings

Department of Defense Ignores Domestic Violence Problem

Washington, D.C. – Today Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) issued a report, The Seemingly Intractable Problem of Domestic Abuse in the Department of Defense, documenting the Department of Defense’s (DOD) shocking failure to monitor acts of domestic violence committed by soldiers.  CREW also forwarded the report, along with recommended solutions, to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

Read CREW’s letter to the Armed Services Committees here.

Through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests directed to the army, navy, air force and marines, CREW learned DOD has ignored a 1999 law requiring the secretary of defense to “establish a central database of information on the incidents of domestic violence involving members of the armed forces.”  Without this information, DOD cannot effectively monitor and address the growing problem of domestic abuse, especially in soldiers returning from the long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

“DOD can’t fix a problem it isn’t even monitoring,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.  “Over ten years ago, Congress recognized domestic violence in the military as a serious matter and directed the defense department to track the problem.  It didn’t.  Despite numerous reports of escalating domestic violence in the armed forces, the military continues to give short shrift to the problem. It is time for Congress to re-engage on this.” 

Click here to read the full report.

CREW’s FOIA requests sought data on a wide range of issues, including the number of soldiers accused, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed for domestic violence crimes as well as the number of soldiers deployed oversees after committing acts of domestic abuse.  No DOD component was able to provide any of this or other requested data.  The Army has made some effort on the clinical side to deal with identified cases of domestic abuse through its Family Advocacy Program, but limited funds and a crushing workload impede its efforts.

CREW’s report contains three recommendations. First, DOD should establish a uniform coding system for acts of domestic violence, requiring accurate reporting of those crimes.  Second, each branch of the armed services should establish a central database of all reported incidents of domestic violence, consistent with their statutory responsibilities. Third, each branch should conduct yearly reviews of its statistics and issue a report on its findings to the Secretary of Defense and Congress.