200+ on-demand webinars to choose from!
Elevating Victims’ Voices: The Difference a Lawyer Can Make
Affording victims of crime, the power to choose how, when, and to what extent to participate in the criminal justice system correlates with more positive outcomes for both victims and the system. These choices are the foundation of victims’ rights. Yet activating rights in our legal systems requires competent legal advocacy. Unfortunately, too few victims have access to legal representation to help them assert their rights in the criminal investigation and prosecution that result from their victimization.
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“Start by Believing” A Case Study in Transforming Victims to Survivors
Have you ever wondered what the long-term impacts of being believed can do for crime victims? Join survivor advocate Kimberly Corban and Weld County, Colorado District Attorney Michael J. Rourke as they discuss Kimberly’s 2006 assault by a stranger who broke into her college apartment.
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Overcoming the Criminalization of Human Trafficking Survivors
This panel will discuss the criminalization of human trafficking survivors and the ways advocates and attorneys can support survivors and help them clear their criminal records. The topics discussed will include: the intersection of the criminalization of survivors with racial justice, criminal court advocacy, affirmative defenses, criminal vacatur, changes in the laws nationally, power of vacatur for survivors, and how to build relationships with prosecution and educate the legal system.
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Only the Faces and Names Change – Witness Intimidation in Intimate Partner Violence Cases
Witness intimidation in intimate partner violence cases is a significant problem because offenders use complex interpersonal processes to keep violent relationships intact. Research suggests that as many as 80 percent of cases that reach the court system involve victims that recant or refuse to testify because savvy offenders know how to influence victims. In this environment, what can communities do to improve case outcomes, hold offenders accountable, and ensure victim safety?
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Investigating and Prosecuting Sexual Assault by Intoxication
This presentation will address the issues investigators, prosecutors, victim advocates, and medical personal often encounter in alcohol-facilitated sexual assaults. Hurdles in these cases typically include the consent defense, perceptions about “he said/she said” cases, and victims suffering from memory loss, as well as challenges related to victim shame, embarrassment, and lack of trust in law enforcement.
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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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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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Where Science Compliments Justice: Forensic Nurses at Trial
Forensic nurses must be prepared to interact competently and knowledgeably with the legal system, and testify in courts of law, typically as experts, regarding their examinations and findings. Prosecutors utilizing such expertise must understand the role of the forensic nurse and how best to elicit an expert opinion on the witness stand. This workshop will address preparation and interaction from both perspectives (prosecutor and forensic nurse), proper interaction with adverse attorneys, how to develop and prepare compelling testimony, and tips for testifying.
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Stalking: Slow Motion Homicide
Anna highlights the positive and lifesaving work of these individuals through-out her case study and gives concrete examples for all victim service providers when working with victims of stalking or other crimes. She educates on the importance of victim-centered responses for all victims of stalking and shares the success and outcome of these practices in her case and life.
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Sexually Assaulted, Disbelieved, Prosecuted and Acquitted: Lessons from Virginia
Imagine that someone in your community is sexually assaulted and tells the police. Initially the investigator appears to take them seriously, but the case stalls. The victim interview turns into an interrogation, and police pressure the victim to retract their allegations. Desperate to end this ordeal, the victim recants. But to their surprise, the investigator and prosecutor use the recantation to charge them with false reporting.
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