Human Rights Watch: U.S. military punishes rape victims with discharges

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch recommended sweeping changes to assist U.S. service members and veterans who are wrongfully discharged from the military after being sexually assaulted, including stopping the practice of "questionable mental health discharges" for the victims and offering them greater legal protections.

The New York City-based organization found such mental health discharges, including often-baseless diagnoses of personality disorder, cause long-lasting problems for veterans in everything from employment to education. A less-than-honorable discharge, called "bad paper," has been correlated to high suicide rates, homelessness and arrest, the organization said. It can affect medical benefits and other perks for veterans.

The organization said despite U.S. Department of Defense reforms to improve protections for service members who have been sexually assaulted, "problems persist and little has been done to redress past wrongs."

"Those with 'personality disorder' or other mental health discharges, must live with the additional stigma of being labelled—sometimes erroneously—'mentally ill,' " the organization said in its 124-page report, "Booted: Lack of Recourse for Wrongfully Discharged US Military Rape Survivors."

"Because the vast majority of veterans are discharged honorably (over 85 percent), a less than honorable discharge is deeply stigmatizing and may result in discrimination, as the services themselves warn departing service members."

Military discharges fall into several categories. Under the best circumstances, veterans receive an honorable discharge. Other types include dishonorable discharge, general discharge with honorable or less-than-honorable conditions and dishonorable discharge.

When sexual assault victims are discharged from the military for mental-health conditions, including personality disorder, they often receive a less-than-honorable discharge, the organization said.

Veterans are allowed to appeal discharge orders, or apply for a "discharge upgrade," but the process is so cumbersome and mired in confusion that few veterans take that path, Human Rights Watch found. Others simply are never told appealing is an option.

Veterans are prohibited by law from suing the military for harm during service. The boards for correction of military records for each branch of the service are overwhelmed. They are required by an act of Congress to clear 90 percent of their cases in 10 months and all within 18 months, barring any special circumstance.

"Given the enormous caseloads of the Boards (which can exceed 20,000 per year for the Army and are regularly over 13,000 for the Navy), creating strict deadlines without a corresponding allocation of additional resources likely only exacerbates the problems of over-reliance on staff and the inability of applicants to have a thorough consideration of their cases," Human Rights Watch said. "It also creates incentives to quickly dispose of cases administratively if forms are not filed correctly."

The many recommendations to the Pentagon include the following:

-- Clearer guidelines for review by the Boards for Correction of Military Records.

-- Legal consultations for sexual assault victims prior to an administrative discharge.

-- Develop clearer, more understandable materials for those seeking hearings before the Boards for Correction of Military Records.

-- Require "liberal consideration" of expert opinions from sexual assault specialists for Boards for Correction cases.

-- Require the Boards for Correction and associated review boards to allow video or audio hearings.