If you bring the men to justice everyone would be satisfied in the end and life would continue as usual. Use the Crime Stoppers reward approach, offer anyone with info that leads to a conviction a reward, such as a bump in rank from 2nd lieutenant to captain for the cadets upon graduation. I bet you'd have a bunch of info then.
shareIf the military was to start an investigation on the rape, it would be made public. That would give the military and West Point a somewhat bad image. The military preaches a safe, non racist, non-sexist environment. So, if a woman was gang raped during a field exercise, it would make women more weary to join the military.
Actually, there are a lot of websites that post information on the percentage of women that are sexually harassed/sexually assaulted/raped in the military. Some websites will post rape stories of women in the military to try to convince women not the join the military. An example of a military scandal is the Tailhook Incident.
So, if a big case was made out of Elisabeth Campbell's rape, many people would be up in arms. And that is the last thing you want if you want to preserve a crystal clean image, really.
Now, just to get the point across, some people might think I'm anti-military. I'm not. I'm simply stating the facts.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds as if you are saying they were right to cover it up.
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
Of course it wasn't right of them to cover it up, but the military covers stuff up all the time. I don't approve of it, but if you look at it from their view, you can see why they do it. They have to keep their image clean.
shareA large scandal as seen in the movie would destroy West Point, hundreds of soldiers would probably be suspended and alot of future women interested in joining would probably reconsider.
share1. To hell with them.
2. The elementary well being of a cadett is more important than people´s image and ambitions
3. There are ways to find them, even if they had masks.
3.1. Reduce the suspects through interrogation
3.2. Footprints, fingerprints, sperm analysis, hair analysis and other tricks
of the forensic medicine
3.3 Promise of immunity or reduced sentence for the first person that talks
(gang rapes are easier to solve than other rapes).
4. The leadership could have used in the meantime General Campbell to convince his daughter to make a positive statement to the media regarding West Point, while the investigation is going on in return for career advantages.
Arguments:
4.1. All great organisations have a few black sheep.
4.2. Not to damn an institution for what a few black sheep have done, as long as West Point hunts them down like now and as along as they do, there is no reason not to continue in West Point and call other women to join, too.
4.3 Best of all, these are not only solid arguments, they are also true. Most people would have believed them, if not all.
Completely correct to put them on trial for conspiracy, accessory after the fact in a gang rape and murder in the case of Colonel Moore to make sure, that such a tragedy does not happen again.