1st Edition
Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape
Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape curates the current state of untested sexual assault kit research and highlights emerging best practices by exploring the past, the present, and the future of our collective response to rape.
This book is the first to address the most critical topics related to untested sexual assault kits and the Department of Justice’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, bringing together leading US scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and survivors. In a series of well-researched and thoughtful thematic chapters, the book explores the current state of knowledge related to untested kits, survivors, and perpetrators, while also documenting fundamental and necessary changes in how societal systems respond to rape. It provides an opportunity to learn from our past, highlight what we could do differently now, and envision a better future for victims of rape and those tasked with ensuring justice. It may also serve as a cautionary tale for those jurisdictions that have yet to face their backlog or who have failed to embrace the practice and policy changes that have emerged from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape is essential reading for practitioners (including law enforcement, prosecutors, victim advocates, mental health providers, forensic nurses, and forensic scientists), stakeholders, legislators, and policy makers. It will also be of interest to upper-level students and scholars working on interpersonal violence, gender-based violence, and forensic nursing in social/behavioral science fields.
Introduction
RACHEL E. LOVELL AND JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING
SECTION I
How did we get here? Revisiting the past
1 “On the shelves, covered in dust”: The history of untested sexual assault kits in the United States
REBECCA CAMPBELL AND HANNAH FEENEY
2 Where’s my kit? An overview of attrition in sexual assault cases
KATHRYN A. MCGILL, KIMBERLY PUSEY, AND SARAH KOON-MAGNIN
3 Understanding sexual assault disclosure: Victim decision-making processes underlying the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative
JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING, BRIDGET JULES, EMMA C. LATHAN, C. AUSTIN COATES, AND RACHEL CRISLER
4 Sexual assault of women of color: Establishing an equitable and culturally specific response
TERESA M. STAFFORD
5 A survivor’s perspective: My sexual assault kit was part of the backlog
NATASHA SIMONE ALEXENKO
SECTION II
Where are we now? Present reform efforts
6 SAKI training and technical assistance: Partnering with SAKI sites for success
PATRICIA A. MELTON AND AMANDA R. YOUNG
7 Advancing our understanding of sexual assault offenders
RACHEL E. LOVELL, ANGELA WILLIAMSON, TIMOTHY G. KEEL, THOMAS DOVER, AND MARY WESTON
8 Current issues in understanding sexual victimization
VERONIQUE N. VALLIERE
9 Current victim notification procedures: Victim and process impacts across two SAKI sites
HEATHER C. MELTON, EMMA C. LATHAN, AND JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING
10 Transforming police response to sexual assault from the inside out: A case study of the Mobile, Alabama, sexual assault kit promise initiative
JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING, EMMA C. LATHAN, TRES STEFURAK, AND JESSICA DUNCAN
11 Seeking justice through sexual violence prosecutions
JENNIFER GENTILE LONG, PATRICIA D. POWERS, HOLLY FUHRMAN, AND JENNIFER NEWMAN
12 Current trends in sexual assault medical forensic exams and examiners
JULIE L. VALENTINE AND NANCY R. DOWNING
13 Current trends with anonymous reporting: Lessons learned from Duluth, Minnesota
MARY FAULKNER
14 Current issues in providing sexual assault medical forensic exams in rural areas
BRIDGET DIAMOND-WELCH, MATTIE JONES, AND BRIANNA ZIMMER
15 Caring for sexual assault victim-survivors on college campuses
CANDICE N. SELWYN, CAROLYN DOLAN, SARAH KOON-MAGNIN, TRES STEFURAK, AND ALISON RUDD
16 Behind the scenes of the forensic lab: Forensic decision-making for sexual assault kit testing
CHARLOTTE LOPEZ-JAUFFRET
17 Current understanding of the cost-effectiveness of testing sexual assault kits
PAUL J. SPEAKER
18 Eliminating the rape kit backlog: Federal and state legislative responses
ILSE KNECHT, MATEO CELLO, AND BURCU SAGIROGLU
SECTION III
Where do we want to be? Envisioning a future reformed response
19 Advancements in trauma-informed training and interviewing for law enforcement and prosecutors
BRADLEY A. CAMPBELL
20 The notification for victims of assault (NoVA): Innovating future practice through a change process
CAITLIN SULLEY, MARGARET BASSETT, YULANDA MCCARTY-HARRIS, MELANIE SUSSWEIN, AND NOËL BUSCH-ARMENDARIZ
21 Envisioning an effective multidisciplinary sexual assault response: The importance of standards, partnerships, and measurable outcomes
KEVIN J. STROM, JIM MARKEY, HANNAH FEENEY, AND TOM SCOTT
22 Washington State’s external case review program: Examining the law enforcement and prosecutorial response to sexual assault cases
ANTOINETTE BONSIGNORE
23 Memphis works to envision a better public health response to sexual assault: Community engagement, prevention, and awareness messaging to change attitudes and behavior
DEBORAH M. CLUBB
24 Envisioning a better victim response: Survivor-centered advocacy, destigmatization, collaboration, and accountability
MARGARET J. MCGUIRE, DANIELLE B. SABO, AND JOANNA KLINGENSTEIN
25 Making progress: Putting the past, present, and future together to promote needed reform
JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING, RACHEL E. LOVELL, AND BRIDGET JULES
Index
Biography
Rachel E. Lovell (PhD, Sociology, The Ohio State University) is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Director of the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is an applied criminologist and methodologist whose research focuses on gender-based violence and victimization, particularly sexual assault, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence.
Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling (PhD, Clinical-Community Psychology, University of Oregon) is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of North Carolina—Charlotte. She is core faculty in the Clinical Health concentration of the Health Psychology PhD program and a licensed clinical psychologist in North Carolina.
"This book tackles a terrible injustice—the inexcusable backlog of untested sexual assault kits, the results of examinations of victims after a sexual assault. With passion and scientific clarity, the authors document the extent of this problem, analyze the reasons for this neglect, and propose viable solutions to improve the use of sexual assault kits to identify and prosecute sex offenders. The first-person accounts and examples from the field are especially compelling. A must read for anyone working in the sexual assault field and a text that will be a great introduction for students."
Sherry Hamby, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, University of the South and Founder and Director of Life Paths Research Center
"This comprehensive and excellent book goes much further than just dealing with sexual assault kits (SAKs). The lack of sufficient analyses and utilization of SAKs represents the inadequate importance placed on the issues of sexual victimization in general that have too long been a low priority in societies worldwide. This book focuses on key aspects that allow the continuation of such traumatic victimization, but then the many chapters also include ways to change our systems to actually have an effect on reducing such profound interpersonal victimization that too long has been underemphasized. I strongly recommend this book and the excellent editors!"
Robert Geffner, PhD, ABPP, Founding President Family Violence & Sexual Assault Institute dba Institute on Violence, Abuse & Trauma, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego, CA
