SEX CASES RARELY GO TO TRIAL AT ACADEMY (Despite Evidence, Most Accused Midshipmen Expelled Instead)

According to a review by The Washington Post of Navy incident reports, sexual assault charges at the U.S. Naval Academy are dismissed without trial and the suspects are instead expelled from school with striking regularity.  Of 56 midshipmen accused of sexual assault since 1998, two have been convicted, and one of those was in a civilian court.  In virtually every other case in which investigators found evidence of sexual assault, military prosecutors and, in one instance, civilian officials, cut deals forcing the alleged offender to leave the academy without facing trial and without having a criminal record.  Administrators at colleges across the country acknowledge that too few campus rapes lead to prosecution.  But the Naval Academy, unlike most colleges, has the power to bring criminal charges directly against its students through the military justice system.