Judicial Proceedings Panel - Initial Report

Abstract

This is the final report of the Judicial Proceedings Since Fiscal Year 2012 Amendments Panel (JPP). This report is the culmination of three years of the Panel’s review and assessment of issues involving judicial proceedings related to sexual assault in the Armed Forces. To conduct its assessments, the JPP held 32 public meetings between August 2014 and July 2017 during which the members heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses, including sexual assault survivors and victim advocacy organizations, military leaders, military and civilian prosecutors, defense counsel and victims’ counsel, former judges, victim services personnel, and numerous others. The Panel also received thousands of pages of documents from the Department of Defense, the military Services, and other interested parties. The JPP observed and assessed many constructive and important changes addressing sexual assault in the military and support for victims over the past three years. Since February 2015, the JPP issued 11 reports containing a total of 63 recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the military Services, and the Defense Advisory Committee on Investigations, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces, presenting its research and findings on the topics assigned to it by Congress, those recommended by its predecessor sexual assault advisory committee—the Response Systems Panel—as well as on two related issues.