Jamie Leavey, a 2023 graduate of the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University’s New England Campus has written and published a dissertation, With Liberty and Justice for All: Psychological and Functional Consequences for Service Members Acquitted of Sexual Assault.
Policymakers are tasked with changing laws and improving systemic processes in response to evolving moral standards. As societal outrage grew regarding sexual assault in the military, those in power sought to balance what was perceived as a system that ignored, retaliated against, or unfairly burdened victims. However, as the pendulum swung toward victims’ rights and privileges, those accused of this crime inherited the burden of an imbalanced system. In the military context, the experience of the accused is impacted by the lack of separation between functional domains of life (e.g., work, home, community), multiple roles of military commanders (e.g., providing supervision and support as well as being a decision authority for prosecution), and problematic mandatory training that has included misinformation and may have biased court members. Researchers have not previously studied the experience of a court-martial nor considered the far-reaching impact of the experiences that precede and follow acquittal.
The purpose of this study was to explore the psychological and functional consequences for military members who were accused and acquitted of sexual assault through the court-martial process. Leavey’s approach was qualitative and phenomenological to identify common themes and the essence at the core of the experience. With this information, policymakers and military leaders can more effectively consider the unintended effects of well-intentioned systemic change on those accused of sexual assault in the military.
Read Leavey’s dissertation, With Liberty and Justice for All: Psychological and Functional Consequences for Service Members Acquitted of Sexual Assault, here.
