At least 37 kid-on-kid sex assault cases on Washington bases

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – 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, offenders may be shuffled into the civilian world.

The Pentagon doesn’t know the extent of the problem.

In Washington state, records the military acknowledges are incomplete document at least 37 sex assault reports among children on bases since 2007. According to the records, Joint Base Lewis-McChord accounted for 32 cases.

Pentagon officials promised to take “appropriate actions.”