Working with others in your community to respond to sexual assault is the surest way to convict offenders and support victims. The Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services staff and Interpersonal Violence Response Training Team help local responders put such networks in place and provide expertise and resources to sustain them.
“A multidisciplinary response increases the likelihood that the victim will stay engaged in the criminal justice process,” said Sandy Huntzinger, who coordinates the training team and other sexual assault services for the Attorney General’s Office. “Without it, first responders work in silos, leaving gaps in service for the victim rather than a continuum of care.
“When you have a solid, coordinated response — from the initial victim contact through either the criminal justice process or the advocacy component — you have better outcomes,” she added. “You have survivors who feel believed and supported, who are more willing to follow through.”
That coordination often occurs through a local Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) made up of law enforcement, sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs), victim advocates, survivors, prosecutors, and others.
Starting a SART
Debbie Triplett was surprised to learn there wasn’t a response network when she moved to Zanesville three and a half years ago. She had been volunteering for a SART elsewhere since surviving an attempted rape by an armed home intruder 10 years ago. Now, instead of contributing to an existing group, she has teamed up with local organizations and community members to create a SART.
“Every month we’re getting closer to finalizing details,” Triplett said of the Muskingum County SART, which involves Genesis HealthCare and its SANEs, the county prosecutor’s office, law enforcement, and behavioral health specialists.
Triplett said Huntzinger has provided guidance every step of the way, adding, “She’s been able to get people to listen and be on the same page. She is the voice of many, many survivors. We’ve come a really, really long way, but we realize there is still work to do.”
The time SART organizers devote on the front end pays off. “Laying a strong foundation from the beginning is important to a SART’s sustainability,” Huntzinger said. “Everyone has an identified role in the long-term and knows the value of their presence at the table.”
Understanding predators
Sexual predators can be clever, often choosing victims who seem vulnerable, accessible, and lacking in credibility — children, adolescents, drunken college students, prostitutes, drug addicts, human trafficking victims, the elderly.
“When officers begin their investigation by identifying why this person was a good target, they completely change the focus of their investigation,” Huntzinger said. “We tell them to investigate every case through the eyes of a defense attorney. What makes this victim lack credibility? Were they drinking under age, in an unhappy marriage, met the suspect online?
“Once you identify the credibility factor, you begin building a case for the prosecutor to argue that the suspect chose the victim because he believed the sexual assault would either go unreported or the victim wouldn’t be believed by police,” she added. “The best argument is that we don’t get to pick our victims, the perpetrators do. That’s what you can hand to your prosecutor, and that’s what your prosecutor can tell a jury.”
Resources
AG’s Interpersonal Violence Response Training Team
The Attorney General’s Interpersonal Violence Response Training Team is made up of a dozen prosecutors, law enforcement officers, SANEs, and victim advocates who train and assist those who respond to sexual assault and domestic violence. They work in the field, are active on their community response teams, and have a wide range of expertise.
Formerly known as the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Response Training Team, the group is expanding its focus to include domestic violence as well as sexual assault, leading to the name change. In addition to conducting formal trainings, members are available to consult community responders.
The team’s 2015 trainings will be listed at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Victims in January.
Other training options
Other Crime Victim Services trainings ─ also listed at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Victims ─ include a two-day law enforcement training, instruction for prosecutors, training on domestic violence, Finding Words, and a non-stranger sexual assault course. For more information, email
Sandra.Huntzinger@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.
The Attorney General’s Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy offers courses on responding to and investigating sexual assault. An eOPOTA course titled Responding to Sexual Assault is available at
www.OHLEG.org. For other OPOTA courses, visit
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/OPOTACourses.
Partners in this work
Resources for victims and responders
www.healthy.ohio.gov
(Search for “sexual assault response”)
Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) program
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/SAFE
National Center for Victims of Crime DNA Resource Center
(For webinars, sample policies, reports, analyses)
victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/dna-resource-center
Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence
www.oaesv.org
Sexual Assault Awareness Month event is April 22
The Central Ohio Sexual Assault Task Force will host its eighth annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month conference April 22 in Columbus. The event is free, and victim advocates, law enforcement, SANEs, prosecutors, and others who respond to sexual assault cases are encouraged to attend.
This event’s featured speaker is Marc LeBeau, chief of the FBI Laboratory’s Chemistry Unit and an expert on drug-facilitated sexual assault.
Registration details will be available through the Central Ohio Sexual Assault Task Force and sa-ohio listserv for sexual assault responders. The conference is made possible through a Violence Against Women Act grant; the Ohio Rape Crisis Fund grant, administered by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office; and OhioHealth Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio.
Free webinars available
The National Center for Victims of Crime offers more than 30 free webinars on sexual assault investigations, the role of DNA, untested rape kit issues, and related topics. Visit
www.victimsofcrime.org and search for “DNA webinar archive.”