Making the Case for Prevention

As the Director of Community Education for MOCSA, Kansas City’s comprehensive rape crisis center, I often need to “sell” the subject of rape prevention education to our various teachers, parents, and funders. It can be a frustrating experience on many levels, especially in today’s economy. Funders are more compelled to allocate money to an urgent need. Teachers feel too strapped for time and resources to fit in anything outside of basic requirements. Parents don’t want to believe that their children will ever be the perpetrators or victims of sexual assault. All of those reasons are valid reasons to ignore the issue all together. So why even try?

I tend to think the evidence should speak for itself. Studies suggest that it costs over $5.8 billion annually to address issues related to intimate partner sexual assault, physical assault and stalking. Victims often turn to drug use and alcohol to cope, leading them into a life-long cycle of pain and destruction. Countless lives are ruined by sexual assault and abuse. And even though I know that we can do amazing things to help put perpetrators behind bars and help victims turn their lives around, I also know that we CAN stamp out sexual assault completely.

When people ask me about my professional goals, I usually tell them that I’m trying to put my agency out of business. It’s a lofty goal, I know. But in my heart I must believe that if we do our jobs well enough, we can teach every child what a healthy relationship looks like, and that they all have the right to expect respect from their friends, family, and partners. If I didn’t truly believe these things, I would have to find another line of work, because what we do is not easy. But nothing worth doing ever is.

Julia Westhoff is the Director of Community Education at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault in Kansas City. Julia has over 10 years of experience as a prevention-focused non-profit administrator.

Teachable Moments...

As I was driving this week, I was brainstorming about what I wanted to write about in my next blog. The phrase “teachable moments” popped into my head, so I started thinking of how I have used unexpected opportunities to provide “nuggets” of information that change the way people view sexual and domestic violence.

I remember when I got my first job, working as a Sexual Assault Intervention Specialist for the US Navy in San Diego. Just before I started my new position, I went to a Thanksgiving dinner with my relatives. I remember specifically talking with my family about how frequent sexual assault is, and how most of the time the victim knows the perpetrator. I had a similar experience a few years later with my parents, after they listened to a radio interview early one Sunday morning.

I remember countless occasions where I have told someone what I do for a living – that I work in the field of violence against women. The conversation either went one of two ways: – Either “Wow, that must be hard work,” or a nod and a change of conversation. When the door was open, I tried to find a way to make at least one statement they could walk away with. I specifically remember one occasion where I was getting a pedicure, and the woman asked me what I do for work. After telling her what I do, she disclosed years of domestic violence, both witnessing it as a child and later as a victim herself. I was not only able to offer her someone to talk to, but also to share that other women had experienced similar violence as she had, which seemed to help her feel less alone and isolated.

Most recently, I went out to dinner with a friend of mine. On the way home, while we were talking about our children, the topic randomly changed to keeping our children safe from strangers. I took the opportunity to first validate the importance of being mindful of strangers, but also shared the truth, that unfortunately, most children who are abused know the person who is harming them. She was shocked, especially when I told her how many children are sexually abused.

These teachable moments have proven to be very effective for me, with my own family, my friends, in the community, and when working with professionals. I realize changing perceptions takes time. Each little nugget helps, and they can build upon each other.

I am going to share more experiences of using teachable opportunities, and I hope to hear some from you as well. How have you used a teachable moment with a criminal justice professional, or a community partner?

Language Matters: When Adjectives Facilitate Rapists

Recent comments by Representative Todd Akin from Missouri discussing so-called ‘legitimate’ rape once again highlight the power that the myth of “real” rape has on our society. While many have worked tirelessly to end this nonsensical perspective, it is clearly alive and well. What will it take for people to acknowledge that rape is rape regardless of the victim/offender relationship, regardless of the standing of the offender in the community, and regardless of the responses by the victim to this violence? While some may argue that these discussions are merely semantic, nothing is further from the truth. Labels such as “legitimate” or “real” or “acquaintance” are used for ranking purposes to indicate that some forms of rape are less serious than others. There is no acceptable ranking of “real” rape or “legitimate” rape or “date” rape or “acquaintance” rape.  There is only rape – a crime. It requires no adjective to denote the severity of it.

Terms such as “legitimate” rape allow individuals to somehow believe some rape is really rape (mythological rape), while other incidents are not really rape but rather lesser instances of regret or miscommunication or aggressive consensual sex or something equally ridiculous. These rankings and distinctions of types of rape perpetuate this nonsensical notion and prevent society from understanding that rape is rape, and rape is violence, and rape victims experience violence. Period. These false distinctions send messages to men that some behaviors are within the realm of permissibility (e.g., using drugs and alcohol to incapacitate a victim) rather than sending the message that those behaviors constitute rape. And as a result of these ill-conceived notions, rapists are allowed to roam freely in society committing additional rapes and other forms of interpersonal violence against adults and children. As research by Lisak and Miller (2002) clearly demonstrates, these “undetected rapists” commit crimes beyond rape and victimize children and adults alike.

The persistent myth of “real” rape and the tendency to rank order rape into legitimate and illegitimate, or serious and more minor crimes, is destructive and dangerous to all of society.  This archaic thinking encourages victims to question whether they should report their assaults if they don’t fit the common and mythical stereotype of violent rape or sexual assault. It allows some police officers to fail to fully investigate what may appear to them as an “illegitimate” rape.  It offers grand juries a way to avoid indicting a defendant even when there is corroborative evidence (see, e.g., http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/19/4190561/rape-unpunished-in-tarrant-county.html). It offers prosecutors a reason to decline filing charges in a case they don’t feel will be strong enough to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Finally, this destructive notion colors jurors’ ability to see rape as rape. And most importantly, it allows perpetrators to continue victimizing with impunity.

Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists.  By David Lisak and Paul M. Miller.  Violence and Victims, Volume 17, Number 1, pp. 73-84, 2002.

Dr. Rennison is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research focuses primarily on violent victimization with an emphasis on violence against women and minorities, research methodology, and measurement. Her recent research has been published in Feminist Criminology, Race and Justice, Violence Against Women, Violence and Victims, Journal of Quantitative Criminology and Justice Quarterly.  She can be reached at callie.rennison@ucdenver.edu

Spotlight on Cambria County, Pennsylvania by Erika B. Jugan

The concept of anonymous reporting was first introduced to Cambria County’s STOP Violence Against Women Task Force during a monitoring visit by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in 2009.  A committee was formed, comprised of representatives from the Cambria County District Attorney’s office, Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Victim Services Inc., Johnstown Police Department and the Women’s Help Center.  This committee would later expand and become the county’s first Sexual Assault Response Team.  Cambria County applied for and was granted funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop and implement a protocol that would allow for anonymous reporting of sexual assault.  Through this grant the District Attorney’s office was able to hire a Development Director who exhaustively researched sexual assault protocols throughout the United States and in other countries.  She worked with all of the agencies involved in responding to sexual assaults in our county and helped us to create a comprehensive and effective victim-centered protocol that was implemented in July 2011. 

Anonymous reporting is one solution to the forensic compliance provisions of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act which requires that victims be able to have a medical forensic sexual assault examination without being forced to participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement.  Anonymous reporting provides for the collection and documentation of forensic evidence while allowing the victim time to recover, consider his or her options, seek support and guidance, and/or arrange for safe accommodations and economic provisions in cases of intimate partner sexual violence/domestic violence.  In our protocol the victim is able to remain completely anonymous to law enforcement.  The victim’s name is connected to the evidence only through their medical record number given to them by the SANE program.  The evidence is stored by the largest police department in our county for 180 days.  When and if the victim decides to speak to law enforcement, his or her name is reconnected to the evidence by the SANE program and the evidence is transferred to the police department with jurisdiction over the crime, at which point the investigation begins.

In our first year with the new protocol the number of hospital accompaniments by our victim advocates more than tripled; this includes both standard and anonymous reports.  Many factors played into this increase including better recognition and understanding of the needs of victims and a clearer message within the protocol that requires an advocate be called in every case of sexual assault.  We have seen an incredibly strong, cooperative, and victim-centered response to sexual assault victims by all of the key players in the county.  Although we always worked cooperatively in Cambria County, the new protocol provides a greater understanding and appreciation for the role played by each responder which allows us to focus all of our energy on helping the victim right from the start.  During our first year with the new protocol we had four anonymous reports.  At this point, two victims have chosen to have their evidence destroyed and two are still weighing the option of speaking to law enforcement.

We quickly learned that our protocol would be an ever-evolving work in progress.   Through Sexual Assault Response Team meetings, case reviews, and ongoing suggestions from the field we have continued to improve the functionality of our protocol.  At this time, we’re in the process of revising it for the second time this year.  One of the revisions that our team has been discussing is extending the holding period for anonymous sexual assault evidence from 180 days to 2 years, or possibly more.  With the help of End Violence Against Women International, we are working to improve the protocol so that it can be shared with others in the field as a model.

Erika B. Jugan, is the Supervisor of Direct Services at Victim Services, Inc. in Cambria and Somerset Counties. Erika is a founding member and the coordinator for Cambria County's Sexual Assault Response Team. In addition, she has been a member of the Keystone Crisis Intervention Team since 2010. 

VAWA Days of Action

From National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women:

We need to push Congress to act on VAWA before it’s too late! 

Here are some actions you can take on June 26^th:

ACTION 1: Please contact House and Senate leadership with this message:

I urge you to pass a bipartisan VAWA reauthorization bill, like S.1925, that protects ALL victims of violence-doing nothing is not an option. VAWA has positively impacted me/my community in the following way: _______________.  By reauthorizing a bipartisan VAWA reauthorization bill like S. 1925 that protects all victims of violence, VAWA programs and services can continue to serve victims and make our communities safer.

·         Speaker John Boehner (R-OH),  (202) 225-0600

·         Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA),  (202) 225-4000

·         Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA),  (202) 225-0100

·         Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV),  (202) 224-3542

·         Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY),  (202) 225-2541

·         Chair of the Democratic Conference Senator Chuck Schumer,  (202) 224-6542

ACTION 2: Participate in the national week of action for VAWA!

On June 26^th, a rally on Capitol Hill will launch the national VAWA Days of Action campaign that will last until July 4^th.  We call upon you to organize vigils, rallies and local actions in your communities and at your Congressional District offices to tell Congress that victims cannot wait and a VAWA that mirrors S. 1925 must be reauthorized. Now is the time to show Congress how important VAWA is to victims, survivors and advocates across the country.  Organize your members, friends, families and everyone you know who cares about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking to stand up and speak out.  Start your local planning efforts today!

You can follow the National Task Force on twitter at @NTFVAWA and “like” their Facebook page where you can find a toolkit and other action and information items. Don’t forget to tweet about VAWA using the hashtags #ReauthorizeVAWA, #RealVAWA and #VAWA.

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Media Story out of Sacramento, CA

A couple months ago, a media story broke in Sacramento, CA about a teenage girl who was detained for twice failing to appear in court to testify against the man who raped her. At the time, EVAWI didn’t have a blog platform to talk about this story. Seeing as we do now, it’s a good time to bring it up as it’s still fresh on the minds of many in the Sacramento area.

This survivor was held for nearly a month. The prosecutor stated the detention was necessary because her testimony was critical to the case. The perpetrator had a long criminal history and is also suspected of raping one other woman.

This story raises several issues. First, a young, female victim who is terrified of testifying isn’t going to be more inclined to participate after being incarcerated. This isn’t going to teach her to trust authorities in the future, especially if she is like many so victims who are unfortunately victimized again.

A second issue is the possibility that this use of power over the victim will cause other victims in the community to feel reluctant to come forward to report a sexual assault. Anytime there is a high profile sexual assault case covered in the media, it can have an impact on the rate of reporting – sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.

It is never ok to treat a victim the way the perpetrator should be treated. The message this ends up sending is that the victim is being punished for being a victim of a crime. Most victims are terrified of testifying. Fear of testifying is understandable – not only does the victim have to re-live the assault in front of numerous strangers, but they are also forced to do so in front of their perpetrator. Victims need validation, encouragement, and support during a difficult time – not punishment for being afraid of a terrifying situation for any person, let alone a 16-year old child.



Alison Jones-Lockwood,
Social Media/Outreach Coordinator, EVAWI

Spotlight on Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Exciting things have been happening in Cleveland, Ohio! The county recently developed a county-wide policy on how to investigate sexual assault cases. This new policy has been approved by the county Police Chiefs’ Association, and it is expected that most of the departments in Cuyahoga County will adapt them. A recent article in The Plain Dealer details the new policy, which is the result of months of work by police, prosecutors, nurses, and victim advocates.

The policy includes detailed instructions on where to take a victim of sexual assault for medical treatment and evidence collection. The policy also informs law enforcement on how the victim may react to the trauma, and how it can impact the investigation.

The goal of the new policy is to have more victims come forward, a result of a more compassionate, consistent approach to sexual assault investigations throughout the county.

At EVAWI, we strongly encourage a coordinated community response to sexual assault. Cleveland professionals offer a wonderful example of how community members can come together to create positive change for victims of sexual assault in the criminal justice system. You can start a dialogue in your own community too! A great place to start is by participating in the OnLine Training Institute , and then taking that information back to your local community response team.

Check out the video on the new policy.




Alison Jones-Lockwood,
Social Media/Outreach Coordinator, EVAWI

OnLine Training Institute is being updated!

Staff at EVAWI has been working on updating the content of several of the OnLine Training Institute (OLTI) modules. The OLTI was developed to bring state-of-the art training to anyone who is interested, on the topic of criminal justice response to sexual assault. One of the many benefits of offering training online is that we can continually update and improve the content.

In the OLTI module on Victim Impact, we incorporated diverse survivor perspectives throughout the module. We felt was more effective than developing a single, stand-alone module on "special victim populations," because we can better integrate the examples into our general understanding of the impact of sexual victimization. It is therefore more likely to be helpful in crafting an effective response.

In the OLTI module on Clearance Methods for Sexual Assault Cases, we updated the Uniform Crime Report’s (UCR) new definition of Forcible Rape, after FBI Director Robert Mueller officially approved a new, more comprehensive, definition of Forcible Rape in December 2011.

In the OLTI Module Effective Victim Advocacy in the Criminal Justice System, many of the resources in the original OLTI training module had become outdated and no longer available, updated and currently available in a different location, or moved to another website.  To ensure that these resources remain accurate, this OLTI training module has now been updated to reflect these changes.

If you haven't already registered for the OLTI, we encourage you to do so. And if you have, you will want to make sure you review the recently updated material.