Evaluation of Military Criminal Investigative Organizations' Child Sexual Assault Investigations

We evaluated 163 Military Criminal Investigative Organization MCIO investigations of sexual assaults of children closed in 2012 to determine whether the MCIOs completed investigations as required by DoD, Military Service, and MCIO guidance. Our evaluation focused on whether the MCIOs investigated child sexual assaults as required by guiding policies and procedures. A total of 153 of 163 MCIO investigations 94 percent met investigative standards. A total of 10 of 163 MCIO investigations 6 percent had significant deficiencies. We returned those 10 cases to the MCIOs for follow-up corrective action. A total of 57 of the 163 cases had no investigative deficiencies. The remaining 96 cases had minor deficiencies that had no impact on the outcome or resolution of the investigation. All three MCIOs had instances in which they either did not issue or did not properly document the issuance of the DD Form 2701, Initial Information for Victims and Witnesses of Crime, to victims or the appropriate guardian or family member subject, victim, and witness interviews were not thorough logical investigative leads, such as interviews of witnesses, or leads gleaned during interviews were not addressed or conducted and physical or digital evidence was not collected.