NCJ Number
106237
Date Published
1984
Length
112 pages
Annotation
This report presents concrete recommendations for preventing sexual assault and for treating sexual offenders and their victims.
Abstract
It suggests that sexual assault centers, established after the Maryland Governor's Advisory Board on Rape and Sexual Offenses had been created in 1982, should be funded by the State and should meet State standards. Services to victims of rape should be paid for by the governor's budget rather than left to the legislature's whims. In addition, new sexual assault centers should be funded. The State should provide a full-time State level coordinator to establish a media center to share information, provide professional expertise for sexual assault center personnel, evaluate the quality of medical services to victims, provide networking among victims, and encourage the private sector to develop rape prevention among employees. Police and hospitals should follow basic standards in assisting victims. Also recommended are requirements for training police, health, mental hygiene, and human resource personnel who deal with the needs of victims; changes in evidence collection from an accused perpetrator for use by the prosecution; separate treatment programs for juvenile and adult sex offenders; and the continuation of State funding for traveling slide presentation on the proper collection of evidence in sexual assault cases. Proposed legislation and references.