NORFOLK, Va. — The existence of racial disparities within the military justice system has been well documented.
Numerous studies — including one last month from the RAND Corporation — show that minority service members are 86% more likely to receive non-judicial punishment or be referred to a court-martial than their white peers.
That dovetailed with a 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which found that Black, Latino and male service members were more likely than their white or female counterparts to be subjects of investigations that go into military investigative databases.
Now, a new GAO report out this week states that the Army, Navy and Air Force differ in how they collect, analyze and present data on racial and ethnic disparities in their military justice systems.
The report says those differences make it difficult for the Department of Defense (DoD) to have a clear picture of what the disparities are, where they're occurring and their extent.
Essentially, they don't know what they don't know.
"If they don't know where the populations are, what populations are experiencing and seeing the discrimination or the disparities, they have no idea how to fix it," said GAO Defense Capabilities and Management Team Assistant Director Kimberly Mayo.
In an interview Wednesday with 13 News Now, Mayo said the military is making some progress but notes that increased oversight and better data collection are needed.
"I think the departments are committed to rooting out the problem," she said. "And they've agreed to work on our recommendations going forward. They've come a long way, but there's still more work to be done."
The GAO made six recommendations.