It is not uncommon for victims to have difficulties engaging with law enforcement after experiencing an attack. Victims often fear not being believed or think that reporting the crime will have no effect.
This article, signed by Maya Metni Pilkington, originally appeared in Police Chief Magazine and is republished in the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) with the permission of International Association of Chiefs of Police.
How can law enforcement agencies help victims have contact with the system after an attack? The answer lies in creating good practices for victim contact. Three research projects funded by the United States Department of Justice are examining it from new perspectives.
Sexual assault kits contain crucial evidence. Unfortunately, gathering the evidence contained in them can be intrusive and re-traumatising for victims, who must undergo forensic medical examinations shortly after experiencing an attack, at a time when they may not be prepared to report the crime to the police.
Despite the importance of routinely sending semen, blood, saliva, and hair samples contained in sexual assault kits for criminal investigations and prosecutions, they are not commonly dispatched for forensic DNA testing and analysis. Police and criminal laboratories may have large accumulations of untested kits. Delays in testing not only hinder the pursuit of justice but can also perpetuate or exacerbate the trauma of victims.
Inflows of public funds, together with persistent public protest, have driven many jurisdictions to expedite the processing of their untested kits, resulting in the identification of thousands of individuals who have committed crimes through matches in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). For the reopening of these cases, often months or even years pass since the original crime. Police and prosecutors should reach out to the victims to inform them that their evidence had never been analysed and that their cases could be reopened, a process that can prove to be deeply traumatising.
Dr. Rebecca Campbell, a Psychology professor at Michigan State University, focuses on understanding the consequences of unprocessed sexual assault kits on victims. Her work studies the prolonged psychological anguish and the feeling of injustice in survivors who have been denied quick resolution and closure of the case.
In 2009, this investigation found 8,717 kits in Detroit and Michigan that had never been sent for testing, primarily due to years of understaffing and insufficient resources.
In her research, Dr. Campbell interviewed survivors of sexual assaults in Detroit, and all had collected kits that had not been sent for analysis. The kits were found in the Detroit backlog, were sent for analysis, and were selected for victim notification. Their legal cases were reopened, processed, decided, and closed. Of the 112 survivors who meet the study’s criteria, 32 chose to participate, a testament to the difficulty these victims face in re-engaging with their attack. This may be especially pertinent when it comes to re-establishing a connection with the system.
Why are victim-officer interactions important? It is in the police department’s interest to improve interactions with victims to prevent officers from causing further harm to victims beyond what they have already experienced, and to enable officers to be a useful resource for victims. Furthermore, training on improved communication and a more empathetic response to victims has been proven to enhance case processing, meaning that cases after training had more tagged evidence, were more likely to be forwarded to specialist investigators for follow-up, and had more officers assigned to victim advocacy referrals. The results of certain research highlight how training based on trauma is promising for advancing survivor-centred police response to sexual assault.
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