Adams, a 26-year-old Navy Sailor, faces charges for a number of deviant sexual offenses towards underaged girls. Reportedly, witn.com states that he distributed sexually revealing pictures of young girls on illegal and typical pornographic sites and pages.
The specific ages of the victims are not known and it is not known if their families are allowing them to be named; but military law dictates that there is no need to even identify a victim if the charges have already been brought forth to the prosecution. Generally, it is not legal to release the names of victims that are under the age of 18 years old in the civilian sector.
The Navy and other military branches have staggering rates of sex offender cases
Just do a simple “Google” search for military and Child Porn charges; the amount of defense lawyers that come up is astounding. Keep in mind that military members do not typically have to pay for legal defense since it is provided through base/legal defense on most military installations.
Child porn, human sex trafficking, and prostitution are part of an accepted culture in the military. The recent Marine Corps nude photo scandal is just icing on the cake regarding how normal it is to partake in illicit and objectifying acts at the expense of women. Don’t believe it? Research it.
Child porn, human sex trafficking and the military
Almost two-thirds of The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (2012) included cases against military members for either indecent liberties with a minor or child porn cases.
As far as prostitution—one word: port. Most military members look forward to getting off of the ship or the plane to make a stop at ports around the world.
This is a great time to see exotic places, experience new cultures, and for most men in the military—pay for sex. Married, single, divorced—most partake in these behaviors as a rite of passage.
Paying for sex in some countries contributes to their economic stability—some foreign countries make a killing off of tourism—specifically the sex trade industry (human sex trafficking).
Furthermore, some economists even assess that our country has unofficial agreements with certain countries to keep their tourism economy booming; mostly because of the millions of dollars that military members spend on paying for sex with local women.
Watch this presentation that was given at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation's briefing in the U.S. Capitol entitled "The Freedom from Sexploitation Agenda."
What’s the solution?
The biggest overall issue in the military is the command oversight and the fact that the commanding officers act as judicial mega power—they have the power to simultaneously hold the position of judge, juror, and prosecutor. In short, when mission comes first, they can decide to overlook evidence or decide to not even prosecute; often, grossly lacking discretion and leaving victims with no justice.
The military cannot be blamed for all indecent incidents; we have to understand our current cultural climate and the normalization of degrading and objectifying women that seeps into the military subculture. The demographic of the military is an important aspect as well: men ages 18-45. Lack of education is also an aspect that should be considered. There may be a lack of awareness among military men regarding the fact that most of the foreign prostitutes are victims of the human sex trafficking industry. This may not go over easy with some men, since it is a common misconception that women prostitute themselves willingly.
By the time some of these young men reach military age, they have already lived a lifetime of seeing women treated as second class citizens.
Before we can fix issues within the military subculture, we need policies that protect women and children to be nationally upheld and culturally accepted. We are decades away from change, but awareness and education will pave the way for a much-needed cultural revolution.
