Study faults sex-assault data at military colleges

Service academies lack uniform reporting standards, incidents go unreported, government report finds

A Naval Academy spokesman said yesterday afternoon that officials were unavailable to comment.

A Department of Defense report released in December showed a major decline in the number of sexual-assault accusations at the Naval Academy for the 2006-2007 academic year. Midshipmen reported five incidents of sexual assault, a legal term that includes rape, forcible sodomy, indecent assault and unwanted sexual contact. That compares with 12 the previous year and 17 the year before that.

But several high-profile incidents at the academy in recent years have kept the issue at the forefront, including sex-assault charges against a football player and the conviction of a Navy physician accused of secretly recording midshipmen who stayed in his home.

The report released yesterday says the Defense Department "has not clearly articulated" a reporting standard, such as requiring uniform terminology or the same methodology of reporting.

Anita Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Miles Foundation, a victim advocacy group, said accurate reporting is critical. The academies won't know, for example, how many rape kits or clinical therapists are needed without knowing how many incidents are actually taking place on campus.

"All of that kind of practical, on-the-ground information could be garnered and projected by having accurate data," Sanchez said. "That informs policymakers."

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Sun reporter Bradley Olson contributed to this article.