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Military Sexual Assault Lawsuit on Access Utah Wednesday

According to NPR, the Defense Department estimates there are about 19,000 sexual assaults in the military per year, but according to Pentagon statistics, only a small fraction of these cases go to court-martial. Last fall, nineteen current and former members of the U. S. military filed a lawsuit alleging that they were sexually assaulted while serving.  They claim that even though reform has been promised for years, the military doesn’t seriously investigate or punish sexual predators. 

We’ll revisit a program from October 2012 and hear the stories of former Utah resident Kelly Alvesteffer Smith and Danielle Hoffman, who are among the plaintiffs. Also on the program is Josh Connelly, a staff member in Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office. We’ll also talk with Salt Lake Tribune reporter Kristen Moulton and Amy Ziering, producer of "The Invisible War," a documentary film on the subject.  

Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.