WASHINGTON, DC —Editorials in The New York Times and USA TODAY support Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s call for reform in the handling of sexual assaults in the military. A new Department of Defense report shows that in 2014, almost the same number of service members—19,000—reported unwanted sexual contact as in 2010. Less than three out of 10 are willing to report the incidents, and the 62% retaliation rate went unchanged from the year before despite retaliation having being made a crime last year.

The Times editorial says, “The latest accounting of sexual assault in the military coincides with a renewed push in congress led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, with welcome help from Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky on the far right, to fix a key flaw in the military structure that thwarts evenhanded justice and contributes to the abysmally low prosecution rate. Under military law, commanding officers with built-in conflicts of interest and scant legal expertise have the power to decide which sexual assault cases to investigate and bring to courts-martial.”

USA Today says, “Over the decades, sexual scandals have spurred cycles of Pentagon apologies, congressional hand-wringing, half-baked attempts at action and nibble-around-the-edges changes. Isn’t it time that women and men who serve their country so nobly have a justice system that will serve them when they are victims of a crime?”