"This Time It Was Different:" Creating a Multidisciplinary, Trauma-Informed, Victim-Centered Approach to Sexual Assault Cold Case Investigations and Prosecutions.
{"title":"\"This Time It Was Different:\" Creating a Multidisciplinary, Trauma-Informed, Victim-Centered Approach to Sexual Assault Cold Case Investigations and Prosecutions.","authors":"Rebecca Campbell,Katie Gregory,Jasmine Engleton,McKenzie Javorka,Rachael Goodman-Williams","doi":"10.1177/08862605241284068","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Police and prosecutors recommend that sexual assault survivors have a medical forensic exam and the collection of a sexual assault kit (SAK; also known as a \"rape kit\") to preserve biological evidence (e.g., semen, blood, saliva, hair) if they want to pursue criminal prosecution. However, law enforcement personnel do not routinely submit SAKs to crime laboratories for forensic DNA testing. Instead, they often place untested kits in storage and close many of these reported cases after minimal investigation. Current estimates indicate there are 300,000 to 400,000 untested SAKs in law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. In response to this national problem, the U.S. Department of Justice created the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Project to support kit testing, re-investigation, and prosecution of these \"cold case\" sexual assaults. The SAKI program also provides training and technical assistance to police, prosecutors, and victim advocates on how to use a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approach in cold case prosecutions. This study examined the extent to which one SAKI-funded site implemented these three guiding principles in their interactions with victims while prosecuting cold case sexual assaults. We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with N = 32 sexual assault survivors from the first cohort of cold cases that were re-opened and prosecuted in this jurisdiction. Nearly all cases (n = 31) ended in a guilty plea or trial conviction, and the vast majority of survivors indicated that they had positive experiences with the SAKI team. Survivors noted that they were listened to, believed, supported, and well-prepared by a multidisciplinary team of practitioners who were personally invested in their cases and in their well-being. Implications for creating multidisciplinary, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approaches with other communities are discussed.","PeriodicalId":16289,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Interpersonal Violence","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Interpersonal Violence","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241284068","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Police and prosecutors recommend that sexual assault survivors have a medical forensic exam and the collection of a sexual assault kit (SAK; also known as a "rape kit") to preserve biological evidence (e.g., semen, blood, saliva, hair) if they want to pursue criminal prosecution. However, law enforcement personnel do not routinely submit SAKs to crime laboratories for forensic DNA testing. Instead, they often place untested kits in storage and close many of these reported cases after minimal investigation. Current estimates indicate there are 300,000 to 400,000 untested SAKs in law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. In response to this national problem, the U.S. Department of Justice created the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Project to support kit testing, re-investigation, and prosecution of these "cold case" sexual assaults. The SAKI program also provides training and technical assistance to police, prosecutors, and victim advocates on how to use a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approach in cold case prosecutions. This study examined the extent to which one SAKI-funded site implemented these three guiding principles in their interactions with victims while prosecuting cold case sexual assaults. We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with N = 32 sexual assault survivors from the first cohort of cold cases that were re-opened and prosecuted in this jurisdiction. Nearly all cases (n = 31) ended in a guilty plea or trial conviction, and the vast majority of survivors indicated that they had positive experiences with the SAKI team. Survivors noted that they were listened to, believed, supported, and well-prepared by a multidisciplinary team of practitioners who were personally invested in their cases and in their well-being. Implications for creating multidisciplinary, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approaches with other communities are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Interpersonal Violence is devoted to the study and treatment of victims and perpetrators of interpersonal violence. It provides a forum of discussion of the concerns and activities of professionals and researchers working in domestic violence, child sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault, physical child abuse, and violent crime. With its dual focus on victims and victimizers, the journal will publish material that addresses the causes, effects, treatment, and prevention of all types of violence. JIV only publishes reports on individual studies in which the scientific method is applied to the study of some aspect of interpersonal violence. Research may use qualitative or quantitative methods. JIV does not publish reviews of research, individual case studies, or the conceptual analysis of some aspect of interpersonal violence. Outcome data for program or intervention evaluations must include a comparison or control group.