Part 1: Effective Victim Interviewing: Helping Victims Retrieve and Disclose Memories
Part 1 includes clips from videotaped interviews with sexual assault victims, conducted by an investigator following best practices, including accompaniment by a victim advocate. With dramatic twists and turns, these interviews demonstrate the transformative effect of a good interview conducted by a skilled and compassionate investigator, with discussion centering on recommended practices.
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Who Do You Work For: An Exploration of Ethics for Victim-Serving Professionals
It is often difficult for victim-serving professionals to balance the ethics of their profession with an ethical response to crime victims. The conflicts of these ethical codes, and the misunderstandings that exist among our colleagues, create tension and mistrust across disciplines. While our roles may be different and our ethical obligations may vary, collaborating with victim service professionals is possible. This session will compare and contrast the ethical responsibilities of health care workers, law enforcement, prosecutors, corrections, therapists, and victim advocates towards the goal of fostering understanding among colleagues and increasing ethical behavior and communication toward victims.
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Part 2: Effective Victim Interviewing: Helping Victims Retrieve and Disclose Memories
For victims who report sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other traumatic incidents, the purpose of an investigative interview is to help them: (1) retrieve details of the traumatic event from memory, and (2) disclose those details to the investigator. Yet all too often sexual assault victims have faced unjustified suspicion that their report is a false allegation. Building on Part 1 in this 2-part series of workshops offered by veteran law enforcement investigators, Part 2 focuses on examining the concrete strategies and techniques involved in: (a) conducting an initial interview and preliminary investigation, (b) planning, preparing, and conducting an in-depth victim interview, (c) documenting victim statements and other investigative findings, and (d) following up with additional interviews and an evolving investigation.
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The Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force: Transforming Texas’ Response to Sexual Violence
This presentation will highlight the outcomes of a bipartisan legislation designed to improve Texas’ response to sexual assault, culminating in the creation and implementation of a statewide Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force (SASTF) in Texas in 2019. This was a pivotal moment for sexual assault survivors in Texas, a state that has witnessed the passage of key legislation prioritizing survivors’ needs. This legislation includes newly mandated requirements for increased system accountability and transparency; the collection of multiple data sets illuminating critical aspects of how the system is functioning; and the creation of a statewide task force that includes survivors along with some of Texas’ foremost experts and practitioners in the field of sexual assault.
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Seek Then Speak: Technology Designed to Increase Reporting and Access to Services
Research indicates that only 1 in 5 victims of forcible rape will report the crime, precluding law enforcement from holding offenders accountable and decreasing the likelihood that survivors will connect with supportive services. To increase access to reporting, EVAWI partnered with VictimsVoice to create a new self-guided, online interviewing tool for sexual assault victims. First, survivors and their support people are offered information about sexual assault victimization and various options for reporting to police and accessing services (SEEK). If they choose, survivors can then begin the process of reporting to police by providing information in response to trauma-informed interview prompts (SPEAK).
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Bystanders in Blue: Exploring the Dynamics of Law Enforcement Action or Inaction
In every case involving the use of force by law enforcement, questions arise regarding the actions or inaction of other officers on the scene. This program will explore the issue of law enforcement bystander intervention, and the practical factors that complicate the analysis on a case-by-case basis. It will cover the role of police policies and procedures, practical considerations on the ground in the heat of the moment and present a combination of scientific and experiential evidence regarding the physical and cognitive dynamics in play when officers are confronted with potentially deadly threats on the job.
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Using Film to Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence Featuring Intersectionality with Faith and Race
Using art to convey a message is as old as time. But using the art of film to raise awareness of domestic violence (DV) through survivors’ stories is an innovative way to bring this issue out of the shadows and into the light. How we “talk” about DV is important whether through film, news, social media, as advocates, legislation, law enforcement, or community leaders. We must hold ourselves and others accountable to convey authentic language around the issue. Honoring DV survivors with a platform to tell their stories will help better understand their acute challenges.
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What You Focus On Grows: Stop Justifying Victims’ Behavior and Focus on Offenders’ Predatory Conduct
All too often investigators and prosecutors seek to justify a victim’s behavior, instead of focusing on the offender’s conduct. This session re-imagines offender focused investigations in a meaningful way and gives participants concrete ideas to create system changes within their own community. In this session, Dr. David Lisak, who has spent his career interviewing ‘undetected rapists’ will highlight some of his findings and help participants better understand the predatory nature of sexual violence.
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Empathy-Based Interrogation (EBI)
Empathy-Based Interrogation (EBI) is an advanced interrogation and interview philosophy designed to keep suspects talking. EBI is research-based and grounded in empathy which facilitates an understanding of the subject’s point of view and motivation for committing the offense. It also provides incentives for the subject to share accurate information. In addition, because it is a non-coercive, conversational interview, it is more easily defended in the courtroom. EBI will benefit anyone who conducts interviews for the purpose of gaining accurate and actionable information.
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“Our Response Just Wasn’t Good Enough:” Overhauling our Criminal Justice Response to Sexual Assault
In 2016, we knew there was something missing in the criminal justice response to sexual assault victims in Ramsey County, Minnesota. We were polite in our interactions with victims and we took victims’ wishes into account. We regularly took cases to trial and won many of them, but reporting rates were low and not increasing. Many victims dropped out of the process, and we didn’t always understand why. As Ramsey County Attorney John Choi described, “I knew deep down that our response just wasn’t good enough. Survivors weren’t getting the help they needed. We weren’t achieving justice for many victims.” That all began to change when Ramsey County embarked on a 6-year journey which resulted in sweeping changes to our criminal justice response.