Oregon Detective Pioneers New Sexual Assault Reporting Program

The Justice Department’s National Center for Campus Public Safety Trauma-Informed Sexual Assault and Adjudication Institute offers trauma-informed trainings for campus officers, police officers, and school officials in an effort to better serve students who have experienced sexual assault. As it stands, navigating the various authority figures can be confusing, re-traumatizing, and complicate due process and criminal justice matters. So far, the Center has facilitated trainings for nearly 300 different organizations.

In the past six years, backlogs of untested rape kits have been discovered across the country. Under the leadership of county prosecutor Kym Worthy, Detroit saw the nation's most ambitious—and effective—response to its backlog.

In Democratic Republic of Congo, rape has become a routine weapon of war - but the country has little or no treatment for those with mental health issues resulting from sexual assault. A method of group therapy designed for victims of trauma is helping survivors of sexual violence, enabling women to overcome the fear and shame to rebuild some semblance of normalcy, and a path forward.

Clergy abuse in the Catholic church has been rampant and was often swept under the rug. Until Barrett Doyle and others started 'Bishop Accountability' to keep a record of clergy abuse, and a support group and blog have also been created as a path for healing and sharing stories that will also hopefully help prompt change in the church.

Using a federal grant to reopen unsolved sexual assault cases, Tucson police and prosecutors have provided hundreds of victims with something they were denied when they first reported being attacked: a clear sense that authorities take their cases seriously. Dozens of possible serial rapists were identified when DNA testing was finally performed, and several suspects were prosecuted. When notifying victims their long-ago cases were getting a second look, detectives and victim advocates start with an apology for neglecting or mishandling the cases in the past.

Gillette, Wyoming is a small rural town that isn't connected to many resources, so that help for people who have experienced traumas can be difficult to access. With the implementation of the Gillette Abuse Refuge Foundation, however, that isolation is decreasing. Through digital connections dubbed as telemedicine, trauma survivors are able to connect with therapists to receive support and counseling sessions.

In West Valley City, Utah, the police department has transformed how they handle sex crimes. Department reforms include mandatory training on trauma, required testing of all rape kits, and the development of a set of guidelines to use when questioning victims – all of which shifting their focus towards justice and healing. The reforms have led to sharp increases in cases prosecuted and convicted and even changes in legislation statewide.

In Virginia, a bill was passed to test around 2,902 rape kits that had never been tested. Then, the state passes another law that rules police agencies have to notify all victims that their kits have been tested. Advocates and law enforcement agents fear informing all victims will be triggering and traumatic, and prefer to inform only those whose kits result in a match. The Virginia Beach police meets with legislators in attempt to change the law, but fails. Ultimately they try to decide the best way of informing hundreds of survivors of sexual assault.

Hundreds of thousands of rape evidence kits went untested around the nation, in large part because police and prosecutors disbelieved victims on grounds of race and class. When crimes went unexamined, serial rapists continued to commit crimes and more victims were left with their trauma unaddressed. Prosecutors in Detroit and Cleveland fought for the resources to test the "rape kits" and found through DNA evidence thousands of suspects, large numbers of whom were connected to serial rapes. This film takes an intimate look at some victims, police, and prosecutors to show what clearing the backlog means.

Oregon’s Ashland Police Department has implemented a new program to make reporting sexual assault a safer, more accessible process. The “You Have Options” program teaches officers how to respond to those volunteering information by showing appreciation, listening, and making sure they feel in control. The program has spread across the United States, with Ashland officers providing training to other departments.