He Was Accused of Sexual Assault, She of Using Drugs. The Military Dealt With Them Very Differently.
by Ren Larson, Vianna Davila and Lexi Churchill
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Military commanders have the power to detain service members ahead of trial through a process known as pretrial confinement. Commanders consider whether the suspect may flee or reoffend and if less severe restrictions can keep the person out of trouble. An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune into the Army’s use of pretrial confinement found that soldiers who were detained weren’t always the ones accused of the most serious crimes.
Below are examples of how a soldier accused of sexual assault and another accused of drug offenses were treated differently.
