WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has put his stamp of approval on a long-debated change to the military justice system that would remove decisions on prosecuting sexual assault cases from military commanders. Biden, however, is stopping short of backing a congressional effort to strip commanders of oversight of all major crimes. The changes Biden approved on Friday include shifting prosecution decisions on sexual assault cases to special victims' prosecutors outside the chain of command to remove any appearance of a conflict of interest. Reports of sexual assaults in the military have steadily gone up since 2006.
Andrew Harnik/AP
President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
Posted at 11:00 AM, Jul 02, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-02 16:01:22-04
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