NCJ Number
216350
Journal
Victims & Offenders Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: 2006 Pages: 205-212
Date Published
2006
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article discusses policy implications from the findings of a study examining the effectiveness of sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team (SANE/SART) programs as a tool in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
DNA evidence is critical for the prosecution of sexual assault. In the standardizing of the forensic evidence collection for all health care staff providing evidentiary exams to rape victims, the sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team (SANE/SART) model appears to be the optimal model of multidisciplinary care for victims of sexual assault. The curriculum for SANE training should be considered as a prototype for rape examination and collection of evidence. The SANE/SART programs should be used in a multidisciplinary effort in the investigation and prosecution of cases, alternative disposition for cases where the offender has had a relationship with the victim, and a risk management plan for combating recidivism. In response to the few social services and/or limited academic publications on the issue of crime, the victim or offender in the early 1970s, communities were prompted throughout the United States to involve nurses in the care of the sexual assault victim. This article discusses policy implications from the findings of a study of 530 sexual assault cases undertaken by the American Prosecutors Research Institute and Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing on the effectiveness of SANE/SART interventions and prosecutorial outcomes. References