"Just Bring Us the Real Ones": The Role of Forensic Crime Laboratories in Guarding the Gateway to Justice for Sexual Assault Victims.

Throughout the United States, hundreds of thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also termed "rape kits") have never been submitted by law enforcement personnel to a crime laboratory for forensic DNA testing. Prior research indicates that negative stereotypes about victims influence police decisions to submit kits for testing, but forensic crime laboratory personnel may also be involved in SAK submission decisions. The purpose of the current study was to explore the communication and collaboration between police and crime lab personnel regarding SAK submissions within a community with large numbers of unsubmitted rape kits.

Changing the Criminal Justice System Response to Sexual Assault: An Empirical Study of a Participatory Action Research Project.

In jurisdictions throughout the United States, thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also known as a "rape kits") have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. DNA evidence may be helpful to sexual assault investigations and prosecutions by identifying perpetrators, revealing serial offenders through DNA matches across cases, and exonerating those who have been wrongly accused. This paper describes a longitudinal action research project conducted in Detroit, Michigan after that city discovered approximately 11,000 untested sexual assault kits in a police department storage facility.

How to Right a Wrong: Empirically Evaluating Whether Victim, Offender, and Assault Characteristics can Inform Rape Kit Testing Policies.

Hundreds of thousands of previously untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) have been uncovered in police property storage facilities across the United States, representing a national failure in institutional response to sexual assault. Faced with this discovery, jurisdictions must now decide if and how they should test these kits. Some stakeholders have suggested prioritizing kits for testing by victim, offender, or assault characteristics, based on the belief that these characteristics can predict the likely utility of DNA testing.

Evaluation of a Victim-Centered, Trauma-Informed Victim Notification Protocol for Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs).

Throughout the United States, hundreds of thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs) have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing, which raises complex issues regarding how victims ought to be notified about what happened to their kits. In this project, we evaluated a victim-centered, trauma-informed victim notification protocol that was implemented in Detroit, Michigan. Most victims (84%) did not have a strong negative emotional reaction to notification, and most (57%) decided to reengage with the criminal justice system.

Accountability, Collaboration, and Social Change: Ethical Tensions in an Action Research Project to Address Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs).

We conducted a collaborative action research project with stakeholders in Detroit, Michigan, to develop long-term policy strategies to resolve ~11,000 untested rape kits that were discovered in a police storage facility in August 2009. In our research, we uncovered overwhelming evidence of victim-blaming behaviors and fundamental disrespect of rape survivors by the police, which directly contributed to their decisions not to submit kits for forensic testing. We had an ethical responsibility to report these negative findings accurately and completely, and in doing so, we were concerned that police stakeholders might disengage from the action research project and hamper our other ethical responsibilities to promote general and public welfare.

Forgotten evidence: A mixed methods study of why sexual assault kits (SAKs) are not submitted for DNA forensic testing.

Throughout the United States, hundreds of thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs) (also termed "rape kits") have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. DNA evidence can help sexual assault investigations and prosecutions by identifying offenders, revealing serial offenders through DNA matches across cases, and exonerating those who have been wrongly accused. In this article, we describe a 5-year action research project conducted with 1 city that had large numbers of untested SAKs-Detroit, Michigan-and our examination into why thousands of rape kits in this city were never submitted for forensic DNA testing.

Anogenital and Physical Injuries in Adolescent Sexual Assault Patients: The Role of Victim-Offender Relationship, Alcohol Use, and Memory Impairment.

Prior research has documented high rates of anogenital and physical injuries among adolescent sexual assault patients. Although a number of factors related to rates of injury detection in adolescents have been identified, there may be additional features of the assault that are disclosed in the patient history that could be important indicators of injury risk. The purpose of the current study was to expand this literature by examining whether factors that are salient in sexual assaults committed against adolescents-victim-offender relationship, substance use, and memory impairment-are associated with documented anogenital and physical injury rates.

Creating a Victim Notification Protocol for Untested Sexual Assault Kits: An Empirically Supported Planning Framework.

In cities throughout the United States, hundreds of thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs) have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. Given recent media attention and public outcry about this problem, many jurisdictions with large numbers of untested SAKs are deciding to test all previously unsubmitted SAKs, which raises complex issues regarding when and how victims ought to be notified about what has happened to the kits that were collected during their medical forensic examinations. In this project, we collaborated with one community that has had large numbers of untested SAKs-Detroit, Michigan-to develop an empirically supported planning framework for how to create a victim notification protocol.

Comparing Standard and Selective Degradation DNA Extraction Methods: Results from a Field Experiment with Sexual Assault Kits.

Unlabelled: A growing number of U.S. cities have large numbers of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in police property facilities.

Tested at Last: How DNA Evidence in Untested Rape Kits Can Identify Offenders and Serial Sexual Assaults.

An increasing number of U.S. law enforcement agencies have disclosed that they have large numbers of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs; also called "rape kits") in police property storage.

The National Problem of Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs): Scope, Causes, and Future Directions for Research, Policy, and Practice.

Victims of sexual assault are often advised to have a medical forensic exam and sexual assault kit (SAK; also termed a "rape kit") to preserve physical evidence (e.g., semen, blood, and/or saliva samples) to aid in the investigation and prosecution of the crime.

Pathways to help: adolescent sexual assault victims' disclosure and help-seeking experiences.

In this study, we conducted semistructured interviews with N = 20 adolescent sexual assault victims who sought postassault help from the medical and legal system to understand young survivors' disclosure and help-seeking processes. Results revealed three distinct disclosure patterns and pathways to help-seeking. First, in the voluntary disclosure group, victims told their friends, who encouraged them to tell an adult, who then encouraged--and assisted--the survivors in seeking help.

Cold or caring? Adolescent sexual assault victims' perceptions of their interactions with the police.

One-third of sexual assault cases that are reported to the police involve adolescent victims (Snyder, 2000), yet little is known about adolescent victims' interactions with law enforcement. Through semistructured interviews with 20 adolescent sexual assault victims, this study sought to understand--from the perspectives of the adolescents--how the police interacted with them on an interpersonal level and the impact this had on the adolescents' emotional well-being and engagement in the criminal justice system. Findings revealed that when the police engaged in behaviors that the victims perceived as caring, compassionate, and personable (vs.

With care and compassion: adolescent sexual assault victims' experiences in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs.

In this study, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 adolescent sexual assault patients aged 14-17 years who sought postassault medical forensic examinations at one of two Midwestern Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs. Our goals were to examine how adolescent victims characterized the quality of the emotional/interpersonal care they received and to identify specific aspects of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner nursing practice that were helpful and healing. Overall, the patients had very positive experiences with both programs.

Adolescent sexual assault disclosure: the impact of peers, families, and schools.

Adolescent sexual assault survivors are more likely to seek support from peers and families than to formal help systems, such as the medical and legal systems. In this study, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with N = 20 adolescent sexual assault survivors aged 14-17 who obtained services from Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs to understand the pathways that led them to seek formal help. Our goal was to examine how survivors' initial disclosures to peers, families, and schools facilitated adolescents' access to formal help systems.

Adolescent sexual assault victims and the legal system: building community relationships to improve prosecution rates.

Adolescents are at high risk for sexual assault, but few of these crimes are reported to the police and prosecuted by the criminal justice system. To address this problem, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary interventions to improve post-assault care for victims and increase prosecution rates. The two most commonly implemented interventions are Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs and Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs).

Adult sexual assault survivors' experiences with sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs).

Sexual assault survivors often feel traumatized by the care received in traditional hospital emergency departments. To address these problems, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs were created to provide comprehensive medical care, crisis intervention, and forensic services. However, there is limited research on the actual experiences and emotional impact of sexual assault survivors who seek treatment from SANEs.

Using ecological theory to evaluate the effectiveness of an indigenous community intervention: A study of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs.

In recent years, there has been renewed interest among community psychologists in indigenous interventions, which are programs created by local practitioners (rather than researchers) already rooted in their communities. Indigenous interventions have strong ecological validity, but their effectiveness is often unknown because so few are rigorously evaluated. The goal of this project was to use Kelly and Trickett's ecological theory as a conceptual framework for evaluating an indigenous intervention and its mediating mechanisms of effectiveness.