Criminal Justice Effects of Rape Services

Project Summary for 2002-WG-BX-0007

Various rape law reforms and rape service reforms have been initiated since the 1960's. The intersections of these reforms can provide critical points of leverage in the judicial pursuit of rape accountability. Ideally, the forensic exam, accomplished by support of the police command structure, effectively standardizes the development of rape evidence and the early involvement of victim services and the prosecutor. Unfortunately, there have been few rigourous studies of the effects of these services. The current view is that, taken together, studies have shown limited reform effects. Studies of the criminal justice effects of rape services have been anecdotal and unsupported by case outcome data. The Sexual Assault & Trauma Resource Center of Rhode Island (SATRC) in partnership with BOTEC Analysis Corporation is proposing to undertake, during a two-year study period, and evaluation of the criminal justice outcomes of the sexual assault response team initiated by SATRC. A quasi-experimental comparative change design is proposed. It is hypothesized that an intergrated, interagency sexual assault response team will produce higher rates of criminal investigations, arrests and convictions.

ca/ncf