Courtesy WILL Interactive

A screen grab from "Team-Bound," the interactive video game used by the Army to educate soldiers about sexual assault.

The Army is using an interactive video game to train soldiers how to prevent sexual assaults in the ranks, and the technology has proven so popular, the branch just ordered a sequel, according to a spokesman for the company behind the video.

But advocates for military-rape survivors vilify the video — and the philosophy behind it — as “a waste of taxpayer dollars,” an “affront to victims of sexual assault” and a tool “of limited value.”

Titled “Team-Bound,” the program streams laptop-generated scenarios, allowing users to assume the roles of a male or female specialist who witness on-base sexual harassments and eventually — at a bar favored by soldiers — the warning signs of an alcohol-induced date rape. Players must choose multiple responses throughout the episodes then watch the consequences of either intervening or ignoring the observed behaviors.

If the video’s users pick passive reactions, an intoxicated female private is eventually raped in an Army barracks after leaving the bar with an aggressive, male private. In the video, the victim is shown ultimately reporting the attack then opting to leave the service, prompting an Army official to tell viewers: “A life damaged, a career ended, a unit falling apart. But it didn’t have to be this way. All you had to do was stand up and be strong.”

Word of the Army's requested sequel — currently in production and scheduled to film this summer — follows Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s decision on Monday to crack down on generals who now possess the power to overturn sex-assault sentences rendered by military juries.

Courtesy WILL Interactive

Screen grab from "Team-Bound" video game.

A spokeswoman for the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Prevention (SHARP) Program did not immediately respond to emailed questions about the cost, content or implementation of "Team-Bound" or its sequel.

But a spokesman for WILL Interactive, the Maryland company behind both videos, said: “As part of its overall program to address and eliminate sexual assault, the military commissioned WILL Interactive to develop ‘interactive video simulations’ that combine behavior modification role-playing with a video game element.”

In 2010, the Army “engaged” WILL Interactive to produce “Team-Bound,” said Caleb Barnhart, an account executive with New York-based BLJ Worldwide, an outside communications firm employed WILL Interactive.

“The program was so well received by service members and Army administrators that they asked WILL to develop a sequel,” Barnhart said.

'Limited value'
The original episodes were written after focus groups consisting of Army members suggested several real-life scenarios, said Marc Smrikarov, a vice president of BLJ Worldwide.

In one scene, five Army buddies wearing civilian clothes arrive together at a nightclub where several female soldiers are relaxing, also wearing casual outfits. A narrator says: “Loud music, cold beer, hot girls, game on.” The actors then portray various behaviors, each triggered by users’ responses. Information about the Army’s sexual harassment policies, definitions, and how to prevent such behavior — and, ultimately, stop a rape — is offered throughout that segment and others.

Courtesy WILL Interactive

Screen grab from "Team-Bound" video game.

But the program is being slammed by some experts on the topic. 

“For decades, leaders in our military have thought that they can end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military simply through training programs, like the ‘Ask Her When She’s Sober’ campaign,” said Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military sex-assault victims. “This video game is another example of that line of thinking. Not only is it a waste of taxpayer dollars, it is affront to victims of sexual assault.

“Rape and sexual assault in the military is often about the abuse of power. It is a violent crime and should be treated as such. According to the DOD’s own statistics, the majority of these crimes are committed by an individual of higher rank,” Parrish said. The video “continues to portray rape and sexual assault as a misunderstanding of a social situation — (as with) ‘Ask Her When She's Sober’ — and places the emphasis on the victim and bystanders to intervene in an assault, instead of placing the responsibility squarely on the perpetrator.”

A leader of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) — which seeks to curb sexual discrimination, harassment and assault inside the military — similarly criticized “Team-Bound” as an example of the Army trying to teach its way out of the sexual-assault problem rather than focusing on disciplining and removing offenders. 

“My take is that it’s of limited value to focus on behavioral aspects (without) addressing the role of institutional deterrents,” said Rachel Natelson, the legal and programs director at SWAN. “Outside of the military, companies can’t simply ‘train’ their employees not to commit offenses — they also have to correct offenses once they occur or they’ll be held liable under the law.”

Related:

• Defense Secretary Hagel demands rape reform in military
• Guidelines protect sex assault victims seeking security clearance
• Training aims to improve how military sexual assaults are investigated
• Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system 
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday cracked down on generals who now possess the power to overturn sex assault sentences, ordering the first substantive shift of his tenure in how the military handles rape convictions in the ranks.

But victims’ advocates quickly lashed the move as merely a meager tweak that fails to meet mounting calls to remove all sex-assault investigations from the chain of command and to inject civilian oversight into a controversial system of justice further exposed by the recent Aviano case. 

Hagel directed the Pentagon's General Counsel to strip the authority of commanding generals to void military court convictions. The Pentagon must seek fresh Congressional legislation to rewrite a section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to make the planned change legal.

The decision follows a firestorm ignited last month when Air Force Lt. General Craig Franklin overturned the sex-assault conviction of Air Force Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, an F-16 combat pilot. Wilkerson was court martialed and convicted by a military jury in the assault of a civilian woman at the U.S. Air Base in Aviano, Italy. He was sentenced to one year in the brig and booted from the Air Force.

But using current UCMJ laws, Franklin reversed that jury's ruling for apparent lack of evidence. Wilkerson was subsequently released from jail, reinstated and assigned to a staff job at an Arizona air base.

The head of the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), which seeks to help women serve without discrimination, harassment or assault, said she is "encouraged" by Hagel's proposal to reform a portion of the UCMJ, particularly "in light of the perceived travesty of justice in the recent Aviano case." But she added that the modification is not enough.

"The Department of Defense has effectively acknowledged that commanders currently have undue influence on post-trial decision-making," said Anu Bhagwati, executive director of SWAN and a former Marine Corps captain. "However, post-trial review is only one component of the command-driven system that currently governs how military crimes are handled.

"Unless pre-trial decision-making around investigation and prosecution of offenses is also removed from the hands of commanders and given to impartial prosecutors, military criminal justice will remain a lesser form of justice, both for victims and defendants."

Measures 'fall short'
Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for military sex-assault victims, called the generals’ current prerogative to toss out sex-assault convictions "only one part of much larger fundamental problems."

"Today’s proposed changes from the Pentagon fall short of the necessary fixes to end the epidemic of sexual assault in the military," said Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders. "The military has always contended that incidences like Aviano are extremely rare and we have never disputed that. But, we have always contended that the more insidious problem is that convening authorities can unilaterally lessen sentences, and today’s announcement does not change this.

"Commanders now have the power to reduce any sentence for any reason or no reason," Parrish added. "Under the current proposal ... this will not change. In the Aviano case, rather than setting Lt. Col. Wilkerson’s sexual assault conviction aside, Lt. General Franklin could have simply reduced the sentence to no punishment.

"For the system to be legitimate — the reporting, investigation and adjudication must be taken completely out of the chain of command if we are to avoid another case like Aviano," she added.

Under UCMJ, Hagel and Congress are powerless to change Franklin's decision to overturn the conviction of Lt. Col. Wilkerson.

In a written statement released Monday, Hagel said he is seeking to eliminate the ability of commanders who are the "convening authority" to override convictions for sexual assault or other serious crimes.

Defendants still will retain the right to appeal convictions through the military judicial system, Hagel said. He also wants to require the convening authority to put into writing any changes they may make in sentencing for major offenses.

"From the survivors we talk with," Parrish said, "a written explanation as to why their perp's sentence was lessened unilaterally will be of no comfort to them. This still constitutes an extraordinary power resting in the hands of one person with no equivalent in the civilian criminal justice system."

Related: 

• Guidelines protect sex assault victims seeking security clearance
• Training aims to improve how military sexual assaults are investigated
• Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system 
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases

In a case that is drawing comparisons to the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case, police in a Connecticut town have charged two members of the high school football team with sexual assault involving different 13-year-old girls.

Torrington Police

Edgar Gonzales, left, and Joan Toribio

At least one of the alleged victims has been reportedly taunted online.

Though many of the details of the allegations are sealed from the public, two Torrington High School football players, Edgar Gonzales and Joan Toribio, both 18, are charged with felony second-degree sexual assault and other crimes, The Associated Press reported. The allegations stem from an investigation that began on Feb. 10.

The two men, who the AP reports lived in the same condominium, have both pleaded not guilty.

Gonzalez's lawyer, J. Patten Brown III, told NBC News that the allegations against his client involve statutory rape — illegal sex with a person under the age of consent.

Gonzalez remains in detention in New Haven, Brown said, because he is unable to post bail.

Toribio's attorney, Charles F. Brower, told NBC News he could not discuss the case at all. According to the AP, Toribio is free on bond.

According to the Register Citizen, whose reporter Jessica Glenza collected social network posts related to he case, dozens of athletes and Torrington High School students have taunted one of the victims on social media sites. She was called a “whore,” criticized for “snitching” and accused of “ruining the lives” of the players.

On Sunday, Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmand, both players on the Steubenville, Ohio, high school football team, were convicted of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl during a series of alcohol-fueled parties. She was also threatened online.

On Tuesday, prosecutors charged two girls, 15 and 16, with intimidation of a victim, telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing for posing threatening tweets about the Steubenville victim on the day the verdict was announced.

Two Ohio high school football players have been found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl in a case that roiled a small city and stirred reaction from activists online.

Judge Thomas Lipps ruled Sunday in juvenile court that Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond are guilty of attacking the girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August.

The 17-year-old Mays and 16-year-old Richmond were charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in a car and then in a house.

Judge Tom Lipps ordered Richmond held in a juvenile detention facility for at least one year and Mays at least two years. The juvenile system could hold them until age 21. Both were required to register as juvenile sex offenders.

Mays and Richmond both apologized tearfully after being found guilty.

"I'd like to apologize to her family, [the] community. No pics should have been sent. That's all sir," said Mays.

"I'd like to apologize to you people. I had no intentions to do anything, I'm sorry to put you through this — I'm sorry, I didnt... " said Richmond as he broke down crying.

Afterwards, the mother of the victim's mother, who is not being named, gave a statement to the media, saying:

"It did not matter what school you went to, what city you lived in, or what sport you've played. Human compassion is not taught by a teacher coach or parent. It is a God-given gift instilled in all of this. You displayed not only a lack of this compassion but a lack of any moral code. Your decisions that night affected countless lives including those most dear to you. You were your own accuser through social media you chose to publish your criminal conduct on. This does not define who my daughter is. She will persevere, grow, and move on.

"I have pity for you both. I hope you fear the Lord, repent for your actions and pray hard for his forgiveness," she concluded.

The case divided the community amid allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the football team, a local source of a pride.

After the guilty verdicts, Ohio's attorney general said he will convene a grand jury to investigate whether other people should be charged in the case.

Activist groups have questioned why people who knew about the rape weren't charged under state law requiring people to report crimes.

Attorney General Mike DeWine said Sunday "this community desperately needs to have this behind them but this community also desperately needs to know justice was done and that no stone was left unturned."

Related:
Prosecution, defense rest their cases in Steubenville rape trial
Steubenville high school rape trial zeroes in on texts, photos, video
As rape trial opens, prosecutors says girl was 'too impaired to say no'

The prosecution and defense in the trial of two Ohio high school football players charged with raping an incapacitated 16-year-old girl rested their cases and the judge said he would announce his verdict on Sunday morning.

After hearing closing arguments from both sides in the case, the judge presiding over the non-jury trial adjourned the proceedings for the evening to weigh the evidence before giving his verdict at 10 a.m.

The 16-year-old accuser in the trial of two Ohio high school football players charged with raping her while she was drunk at a party took the stand on Saturday and said she remembered little of what happened on the night she says she was assaulted.

The girl recounted drinking vodka mixed with store-bought frozen slushies at the party that evening, then finding herself sitting on a curb early the next day, after the alleged rape, with her hands between her legs, vomiting into the street.

She testified that she otherwise had no recollection of her own of what happened in the early hours of August 12, 2012, when witnesses in the case have said she was too drunk to move or talk.

Under its policy of keeping the names of accusers in rape cases confidential, Reuters is not identifying the girl.

Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, two members of the Steubenville High School football team, are charged as juveniles with raping the girl by digital penetration while she was essentially unconscious.

Mays and Richmond have denied raping her and say that any sexual contact that occurred was consensual.

The case, being tried before a judge rather than a jury, drew national attention to the Ohio steel town of Steubenville, 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, after photo and video images from the party were posted online appearing to document the assault.

The girl testified that she only learned what had happened to her from text messages, pictures and other bits of information posted on social media by classmates who witnessed the assaults. Some of those witnesses have testified.

Tearful reaction
Prosecutors displayed to her some of the pictures that circulated on social media, including one that showed her naked with what prosecutors say is semen on her stomach.

Keith Srakocic / Pool via Reuters

Trent Mays, 17, enters court for the fourth day of his trial on rape charges in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio.

The girl started crying as she looked at the photo, saying she had never seen the image before.

"Who is that in the photo?" prosecutor Marrianne Hemmeter asked.

"Me," the girl answered.

"How does it make you feel?" Hemmeter said.

"Not good."

The girl also testified that when she finally went to the hospital, after seeing a video in which classmates joked about the assault, she was reluctant to identify her assailants.

When Hemmeter asked her why, the girl replied: "Because honestly, I was praying that everything I heard wasn't true. I didn't want to get myself into drama because I knew everyone would just blame me."

Defense attorneys have questioned whether the witnesses in the case remembered details from the party or were just repeating rumors that circulated afterward through their social groups or from investigators looking into the rape allegations.

Keith Srakocic / Pool via Reuters

Ma'lik Richmond, 16, enters court for the fourth day of his and co-defendant, Trent Mays, 17, trial on rape charges in juvenile court on March 16, 2013 in Steubenville, Ohio.

Earlier on Saturday, the defense called two former friends of the accuser - Kelsey Weaver and Gianna Anile - who testified that the girl had a reputation for dishonesty.

Weaver, 17, testified the accuser had told her she liked Mays. Weaver also said she watched the accuser drink four shots of vodka and two beers and flirt with Richmond on the night she says the rape occurred.

Weaver said the accuser told her she thought she had been drugged as well - a conclusion Weaver said she did not believe. Asked by defense why she had doubts, Weaver said, "Because (she) lies about things."

Both Weaver and Anile were with the accuser on the night of the alleged rape. Both testified that they ended their friendship with her because of the accusations.

On Friday, Mark Cole, a teammate of Mays and Richmond, granted immunity for his testimony, said he recorded a video of Mays performing a sex act on the girl while she was passed out during a car ride between houses in Steubenville the night of the party, but he deleted the footage the next morning.

A second teammate, Evan Westlake, who also was granted immunity, testified he saw Richmond commit a sex act on the girl on the basement floor of a house that same night.

If convicted, the defendants could be sentenced to a juvenile detention facility until they turn 21, and be required to register as sex offenders.

Related:

• Steubenville rape suspects' teammates testify they saw them commit sex acts
• Steubenville high school rape trial zeroes in on texts, photos, video
• As rape trial opens, prosecutor says girl was 'too impaired to say no'

Keith Srakocic / Pool via Reuters

Trent Mays, left, and Ma'lik Richmond sit in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, on Friday.

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- Teammates of two high school football players from Ohio accused of raping a girl at a party last summer testified on Friday they saw their classmates commit sex acts on the girl during the alcohol-fueled events that night.

A third witness, a friend of the defendants who was also granted immunity, said he saw both defendants making sexual contact with her while she appeared to be passed out, naked and face down on a basement floor.

"She wasn't moving. She wasn't talking. She wasn't participating," said Anthony Craig, 18.

The rape case against Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, drew national attention to the Ohio steel town of Steubenville, on the West Virginia border and about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, after a photo and video from the party were posted online.

The computer hacking group Anonymous later publicized the picture of two males carrying the girl by her wrists and ankles and organized protests accusing the town known for its "Big Red" football team of covering up the involvement of more players.

Mark Cole, a teammate granted immunity for his testimony, said he recorded a video of Mays performing the act on the girl during a car ride between houses in Steubenville the night of the party, but deleted it the next morning.

"It was one of those moments when you realize you did something wrong or stupid," Cole said during testimony in which he also said he drank eight to 10 beers that night and his memory of the evening was foggy.

Evan Westlake, who also was granted immunity, testified he saw Richmond commit a sex act on the girl on the basement floor of a house the same night last August.

Mays and Richmond are accused of raping the girl when she was too drunk to move or speak. She told police she did not remember what happened, but reported the incident the next day after she heard details from friends. The boys have denied raping her and say any sex that happened was consensual.

Defense attorneys have questioned whether the witnesses in the case remembered details from the party or were repeating rumors that circulated afterward through their own social groups and from investigators looking into the rape allegations.

Lawyers for the boys say the victim had told friends in advance that she wanted to have sex with the players.

Prosecutors have argued the girl was too drunk to make a decision about her welfare and have introduced as evidence graphic text messages about the party and events afterward and two pictures that were recovered from mobile devices.

The juvenile charges against Mays and Redmond are being heard by visiting Judge Tom Lipps. If convicted, they could be required to stay at a juvenile detention facility until they turn 21 and then register as sex offenders.