DoD Announces Two New Policies Supporting Victims of Sexual Assault

Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense announced two new policies supporting victims of sexual assault.

• The first on expedited transfers, service members who have been the victim of sexual assault and have filed an Unrestricted report now have the option to request an expedited transfer from their unit and/or installation. The service member must receive a response to the transfer from the unit commander within 72 hours, and can request a review of any denied requested.

• The second new policy standardizes the retention periods or sexual assault records across the military services.  In unrestricted cases, specified documents will be retained for 50 years and in restricted cases, for five years, to ensure victims have extended access to documents related to the sexual assault.