Victim Services, Community Outreach, and Contemporary Rape Crisis Centers: A Comparison of Independent and Multiservice Centers

• NCJ Number: 208764
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 343-360
• Author(s): Elizabethann O'Sullivan; Abigail Carlton
• Date Published: April 2001
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study assessed a proposal that independent sexual assault programs (SA) either merge with multiservice programs or add services for more types of victims in North Carolina.

Abstract

This study was initially conducted in 1994 and updated with 1999 data. The participants were North Carolina's eight independent sexual assault programs and eight combined programs. Three programs combined sexual assault and domestic-violence services (SA/DV); three programs combined sexual assault with a community crisis line (SA/CL); one program was located in a substance abuse agency (DRUG); and one program was housed with Family and Child Services (FAM). DRUG and FAM were defined as multiservice, autonomous programs. During 1994, researchers interviewed center directors, staff members responsible for sexual assault services, and a few founding members about the history of the center, its current services and activities, the relationship between volunteers and staff, interorganizational relations, and funding sources. Two findings were deemed especially significant by the researchers. First, the independent SA centers were the only ones that operated under inclusive definitions of sexual assault, incorporated cultural concerns in assessing their services and outreach, used volunteers as community educators, and targeted community education to youth and males. Second, embedded centers, particularly those within domestic violence programs, apparently underserve sexual assault victims. Combined SA/DV programs heard from the fewest victims, did not regularly receive police or hospital referrals, and did not provide systematic community education. This report offers opinions regarding possible outcomes if SA centers merge with the various types of combined services. It notes that merging with a domestic violence program is likely to diminish sexual assault services unless the sexual assault program has autonomy over its budget, staffing, and program. 4 tables and 23 references