New NIJ FTCoE Webinar Series Helps Agencies Help the Most Vulnerable

• NCJ Number: 252524
• Author(s): Becky Lewis
• Date Published: December 2018
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: A proposal to operate the National Criminal Justice Technology Resource Center.

Annotation

This article discusses the background, features, and future of a webinar series on providing effective services to “special” crime victim populations, such as sexual assault victims, elderly victims, and crime victims at colleges and universities.

Abstract

The webinar series was initiated and developed by the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE). In early 2018, FTCoE highlighted upcoming projects in its sexual assault reform initiative. At that time, FTCoE was in the early stages of planning a webinar series on responding to special crime victim populations. As of December 2018, the FTCoE had hosted two webinars in that series, entitled, “Providing Gender Inclusive Care to Victims of Sexual Assault” and “Responding to Sexual Assault Victims of Color.” This article provides online access to both of these webinars in archival form. In 2019, additional webinars in this series will focus on elderly victims, those victimized on college and university campuses, and victims in the Hispanic/Latino(a) community. FTCoE is currently soliciting expertise on these and other topics relevant to the series, so as to provide guidance for law enforcement policies on evidence collection in cases that involve victims from special populations. The webinars are available to the public at no charge in both live and archival formats.