Military Sexual Assault Prevention

Since 2007, Congressman Turner has led the fight to combat sexual assault from our military.

As Co-Chairman of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus, Congressman Turner has worked to successfully pass substantive, bipartisan legislation to change the flawed culture that has enabled sexual assault to occur in our Armed Forces. He has introduced and supported legislation aimed at assault prevention, protecting victims, and increasing tools for prosecution.

Specifically, Turner has helped enact legislation that has provided expedited transfers of victims, established a mandatory dishonorable discharge for convicted sex offenders, limits commander’s discretion to grant clemency, and established a Special Victims’ Counsel for victims of sexual assault—an unprecedented step forward in protecting victim rights.

In 2014, along with Congresswoman Tsongas, Congressman Turner introduced the FAIR Military Act, which takes powerful steps in the areas of prevention, prosecution, and protection. These groundbreaking reforms were successfully included in the final bipartisan 2015 National Defense Bill and hold our military leaders to the highest standard.

Most recently, Congressman Turner has supported the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act of 2021. Unlike previous legislation that significantly undermined the commander’s efforts to ensure good order and discipline within the unit, under the MJIIPA, unit commanders maintain the authority to prosecute military-specific offenses and to otherwise address misconduct in the unit. This professionalizes the military justice process to improve the protection of victims and the accountability of alleged offenders while allowing unit commanders to retain visibility of their unit and focus on mission success.