DoD tackling sexual assault prevention

The Department of Defense is working to prevent sexual assault, in the military, but also nationwide.

"It is our goal to develop a sexual assault prevention program that can be a benchmark for the nation," Kaye Whitley, director of the department's sexual assault prevention and response program, told members of the House Armed Services Committee's military personnel subcommittee.

The department's prevention efforts began in 2007.

Experts, Whitley said, came up with three points from the past year's research they thing will improve prevention and response:

-- Implementing lasting prevention measures by using a framework that takes action at all levels of military society;

-- Using social marketing campaigns to link all of its efforts to prevent sexual assault; and

-- Focusing on using bystander intervention techniques to complement its efforts.

"The department believes that prevention can only occur with an organized, comprehensive approach that is based on research," Whitley said.

The department's strategy is built on what officials call the "spectrum of prevention," she said, a nationally recognized framework that has been used in other campaigns throughout the country.

The department will launch a marketing campaign featuring two public service announcements in April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Whitley said she hopes the campaign will persuade people to "behave in ways that improves their own personal welfare and that of society."

"The campaign makes it very clear that each military member has a moral duty to step up and take action to prevent sexual assault," she added.

The initial campaign is designed to inform military members about the sexual assault prevention and response programs and to demonstrate key points in the bystander intervention approach. The strategy will require commitment, cooperation, time and patience, she said.

Last week's hearing was the second in a three-part series the House Armed Services Committee is holding on sexual assault prevention, awareness and response programs and strategies in the Defense Department. The first occurred in January, and the third will take place later this year.

For more information: http://www.sapr.mil/