Partnering With Community Sexual Assault Response Teams: A Guide for Local Community Confinement and Juvenile Detention Facilities

• NCJ Number: 251501
• Author(s): Allison Hastings; Ram Subramanian; Kristin Littel
• Date Published: December 2015
• Length: 88 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-VS-GX-K025
• Sponsoring Agency: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Corporate Author: Vera Institute of Justice
• Sale Source: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Instructional Material; Case Study
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This guide assists correctional facilities and their jurisdictions in responding to sexual abuse in confinement settings, based on lessons learned from the Vera Institute of Justice's project in addressing this issue in Johnson County, Kansas.

Abstract

The guide's specific goal is to help administrators of local community confinement and juvenile detention facilities in collaborating with a community sexual assault response team (SART), which is a multidisciplinary interagency team that is trained to provide specialized sexual assault services. Partnerships with SARTs can facilitate the design and implementation of policies and procedures that comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The guide consists of three sections. Section 1, "Background: An Overview of PREA and SARTs," provides background information on PREA and SARTs and discusses some of the benefits for correctional facilities of partnering with community SARTs. Section 2, "A Planning Tool: How To Partner With a Community SART," assists administrators of local community confinement and juvenile detention facilities partner with a community SART to incorporate a SART approach into their sexual assault response policy and procedures. This collaborative process consists of four phases: 1) gathering information and planning; 2) working with the community SART; 3) incorporating a SART approach into facility policies; and 4) training facility staff in the features and implementation of these policies. Section 3, "Partnership in Action: The Sexual Assault Response Teams in Corrections Project - Johnson County, Kansas," presents a "real world" example of how the proposed principles and phases work in practice, as it describes the experience of the Sexual Assault Teams in Corrections Project in Johnson County, Kansas. This section discusses the project's external evaluation and key achievements. 9 appendixes with supplementary materials, 25 references, and related national and state resources