On the heels of the completion of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative, a related symposium will take place on the second day of the Two Days in May Conference on Victim Assistance, set for May 14-15 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Attorney General DeWine and Richard A. Bell of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office will also provide an overview of the SAK testing initiative and its results for all Two Days in May attendees during the lunch hour on May 14.
A milestone was reached on Jan. 31, when the SAK testing initiative concluded. Forensic scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) completed DNA testing on almost 14,000 rape kits that had been lingering in police evidence lockers for decades.
To continue the momentum started by the initiative and share lessons learned, law enforcement officials and prosecutors will gather from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Room A123-125 for a symposium about investigating sexual assault cases.
A group of speakers — including a prosecutor, a forensic scientist, an investigator, and a victim advocate — will provide information on topics such as investigating cold-case sexual assaults, working with sexual assault victims, indicting a “John Doe” CODIS hit, continuing with a case when there is no CODIS hit, and understanding DNA laboratory results.
Organized by the Ohio Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Section, the conference is entering its 27
th year by offering 35 workshops on topics such as Marsy’s Law, domestic violence, and substance-use disorder. The theme of the event is “Protecting Ohio Families.”
Mark Hurst, M.D., medical director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, will open the conference with a session on “The Brain, Addiction, and Trauma.”
On the second day, Kenneth R. Yeager, director of the Stress, Trauma and Resilience (STAR) program at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, will speak on “Vicarious Trauma and Building Resilience.”
Social workers, victim advocates, nurses, and attorneys can earn continuing education credits for attending.
Attorney General DeWine learned the importance of helping crime victims early in his career when he served as prosecuting attorney in Greene County.
Today, he continues to find better ways for his office to provide services to them. Last year, the Attorney General awarded 367 Ohio crime victim services agencies with $85.5 million in grants. The money is being used to support domestic violence shelters; human-trafficking outreach centers; aged-out foster youth initiatives; sexual-, elder-, and child-abuse programs; legal-aid initiatives; and court-appointed special advocate programs.
To register for the symposium, visit
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/SAKSymposium.