Evaluation of the Sexual Assault Victims’ Rights Amendment Act (SAVRAA) Task Force Recommendations for DC Youth.

The goals of the survey were to (1) record the organization and administration of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) nationally as an introductory “portrait” of collaborative responses and (2) collect data about SART training and technical assistance needs for inclusion in a forthcoming National SART Toolkit. The full report offers detailed findings and provides a fairly revealing portrait of SARTs. This Executive Summary provides a sketch of that broader picture.

This study is one of the first to provide an empirical assessment of these questions across a wide range of IHEs. Prior studies of campus sexual assault and misconduct have been implemented for a small number of IHEs or for a national sample of students with relatively small samples for any particular IHE. To date, comparisons across surveys have been problematic because of different methodologies and different definitions. The AAU study is one of the first to implement a uniform methodology across multiple IHEs and to produce statistically reliable estimates for each IHE. It was designed to provide separate estimates for incidents involving two types of sexual contact (penetration and sexual touching) and four tactics (physical force, drugs and alcohol, coercion, absence of affirmative consent), as well as behaviors such as sexual harassment, stalking, and intimate partner violence. Providing this level of detail allows campus administrators to tailor policies by these very different types of sexual assault and misconduct.

This Toolkit provides concrete facts about the issue of violence against girls and young women; suggestions about issues to be covered regarding violence against girls, including the Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women’s recommendations of how to end violence; and information about key organizations.

Many factors can influence study design, particularly when evaluating an intervention in the field. Although randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard of evaluations, there are practical and ethical considerations that may exclude their use. This case study looks at those factors and their impact on an evaluation of an intimate partner violence intervention.

Law enforcement agencies around the country are looking to improve their victim response and community connections. Participants from the Chattanooga Police Department will share their experience incorporating research and evaluation into their efforts to implement the Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) strategy to inform their work and better meet their goals. ELERV is supported by a partnership between the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Office for Victims of Crime.

This proclamation by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) states that law enforcement agencies of all sizes should take steps to establish and embed Victim Services Units into their operations by employing personnel specifically for that task or by developing formal partnerships with local victim services organizations.

These guidelines from the Interpretation Technical Assistance and Resource Center focus on court interpretation for domestic and sexual violence victims with limited English proficiency. This national project is an opportunity to build effective systems through collaboration and political will, identify and address problems early on, and be guided by clear strategies. Resource Guide for Advocates & Attorneys on Interpretation Services for Domestic Violence Victims informs how advocacy, interpretation, and language access can be integrated.

RSP is a partnership between the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Our staff team is divided into audience-specific technical assistance (TA) projects, with RSP leadership providing support across all of them. Each TA project sets the direction and culture of their work based on the needs of the groups they are supporting (advocacy programs, rural advocacy programs, coalitions, and administrators).

The goal of this resource is to strengthen law enforcement’s understanding of and response to sexual violence in LGBTQ+ communities and should be used in tandem with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Sexual Assault Response and Investigation Policy and Training Content and Investigative Guidelines, and the IACP Sexual Assault Incident Reports: Investigative Strategies. The considerations presented will aid in overall agency strategies to promote an understanding of the complexities of sexual violence in LGBTQ+ communities and encourage the proactive implementation of agency policy and prevention efforts.

The Stalking Resource Center has released Responding to Stalking on Campus: The Model Stalking Policy. This guide was developed to help universities and colleges create or revise their campus policy on stalking. Responding to Stalking on Campus: The Model Stalking Policy provides useful language about defining stalking, lists of stalking behaviors, and safety considerations for victims. It also includes sample policies that administrators can use in their entirety or adapt for schools’ specific needs.

To recognize stalking and best help victims, advocates and other professionals must be able to identify stalking behaviors and help victims navigate the criminal and civil justice systems, if victims are choosing to access those systems for support.

This guide is intended as a resource for prosecutors in stalking cases. It provides an overview of what stalking is and the best practices for prosecuting offenders. It should not be taken as legal advice but instead used as a guide for attorneys to support their own research and for problem-solving in prosecuting these types of cases.

Developed by the Stalking Resource Center in partnership with the American Probation and Parole Association, and the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, this guide describes effective approaches to supervising stalkers, which include focusing on victim safety and insisting on offender accountability and behavior change. It encourages probation and parole officers to screen offenders for stalking behavior, document the incidents of stalking, and actively pursue all violations.

The situations above reflect real-life dilemmas when sexual violence impacts people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Multiple studies have shown that sexual victimization of people with disabilities* generally is among the highest of any group of people. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found the rate of violent victimization for persons with disabilities was nearly three times the rate of those without during a three-year period (U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS], 2014). A more recent BJS report found during the 2010-14 timeframe that persons with cognitive disabilities had the highest rates of total violent crime, serious violent crime, and simple assault among the disability types measured (BJS, 2016).

Transgender victims, like all victims of sexual assault, want and deserve to be respected, heard, believed, served, and supported. This guide will help you do just that.

This training bulletin provides guidance for courtesy reports taken by law enforcement to document a sexual assault committed in another jurisdiction. While it is written primarily for law enforcement, the information it is also valuable for other responding professionals to be informed about the options that are available.

Restitution: Making It Work, the fifth in the series, provides an overview of state legislation and current issues related to the collection of courtordered restitution to crime victims. Although every state has enacted legislation on this issue, many crime victims who are awarded restitution never receive any money or receive only a small portion of what the court has ordered the defendant to pay. This bulletin and the others in the Legal Series highlight various circumstances in which relevant laws are applied, emphasizing their successful implementation.

This guide provides an overview of a sexual violence survivor’s rights and remedies within the civil legal context. It identifies legal as well as safety and other practical considerations that should be considered when helping a sexual violence survivor identify legal options in the civil justice system. It is not a substitute for legal advice.

It is also not a detailed overview of state-specific law. Rather, it is a toolkit designed to identify the legal issues that may be implicated for a survivor and the possible sources of law for the remedies chosen.

The Toolkit is divided into three parts: Pretrial, Trial, and Post-Trial. Because victims’s rights can arise at any time during these three phases, it is critical to review the various tools available in this toolkit. The tools come in the form of video tutorials of rights, flowcharts that guide you through the how and when of asserting rights, checklists to ensure you are making all of the best arguments, and sample pleadings. The Toolkit is meant as an overview; because every case is complex and every survivor unique, NCVLI’s legal team is ready to provide in-depth technical assistance.

Roadmap to Resilience is a podcast series providing concrete and accessible, research-based strategies for building resilience in children of all ages. With contributions of more than a dozen international experts in child trauma, the content is directly relevant for any professional or other support person who cares for children, by teaching and advocating for a trauma-informed approach.

This training bulletin is exerpted from our 32-hour OnLine Training Institute module, Laboratory Analysis of Biological Evidence and the Role of DNA in Sexual Assault Investigations. This comprehensive OLTI module explores the complex role of DNA in a sexual assault investigation, including various sources of DNA evidence and their potential impact on a sexual assault investigation. The module also includes case examples, providing the opportunity to apply what is learned in a variety of real-world scenarios.

This training video, created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, provides training in a “roll-call” format for law enforcement on how to respond to the crime of domestic violence.

The Safe & Together Institute is a global leader in domestic violence-informed training and systems change.  Our mission is to create a global network of professionals, organizations, and communities working together to create domestic violence-informed child welfare and child-serving systems. We work every day to change systems so they can be better allies to adult and child domestic violence survivors.

An interfaith organization that promotes hope and justice for victims and survivors of domestic violence and elder abuse.

Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse is an interfaith organization that promotes hope and justice for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and elder abuse.