FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — A decade after the Pentagon began confronting rape in the ranks, the U.S. military frequently fails to provide justice to the children of service members when they are sexually assaulted by other kids on base.
An Associated Press investigation finds that sex assault cases occurring where military kids live and learn often die on the desks of prosecutors. Criminal investigators shelved an unknown number of reports.
Instead of punishment or rehabilitation, young offenders may be shuffled into the civilian world.
In Colorado, Army records documented just three cases at Fort Carson since 2007. But AP found another 16 cases that El Paso County authorities investigated.
The Pentagon doesn't know the true extent of the problem, and the Army acknowledged records it provided AP are incomplete.
Pentagon officials promised "appropriate actions."
