Sex Assaults Underreported, Inquiry Into V.A. Concludes

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Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs facilities that provide mental health treatment failed to properly report many sexual assaults from 2007 to 2010, according to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

The G.A.O.’s report, delivered this week to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, found that sexual assaults were underreported and, when they were reported, that officials often did not follow up through designated channels.

For instance, V.A. policy requires that accusations of rape be reported to the department’s Office of the Inspector General. Yet the report, based on a three-year investigation at five facilities, found that nearly two-thirds of the 67 rape accusations never made it to the office.

In most of the nearly 300 total cases investigated by the G.A.O., the assaults were committed by other patients or unknown suspects and not V.A. employees. The report defined sexual assault as “any type of sexual contact or attempted sexual contact that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/us/09abuse.html