Changing the Criminal Justice System Response to Sexual Assault: An Empirical Study of a Participatory Action Research Project.
In jurisdictions throughout the United States, thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also known as a "rape kits") have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. DNA evidence may be helpful to sexual assault investigations and prosecutions by identifying perpetrators, revealing ser...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Community Psychology Vol. 67; no. 1/2; pp. 166 - 179 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Mar2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=149329035&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 149329035 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00910562 CMP jtl: American Journal of Community Psychology issn: 00910562 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2021 vid: 67 iid: 1/2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 149329035 10.1002/ajcp.12428 ppf: 166 ppct: 13 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 137KB tig: atl: Changing the Criminal Justice System Response to Sexual Assault: An Empirical Study of a Participatory Action Research Project. aug: au: Campbell, Rebecca Fehler‐Cabral, Giannina Pierce, Steven J. Sharma, Dhruv B. Shaw, Jessica Horsford, Sheena Feeney, Hannah affil: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI,, USA Engage R + D, Los Angeles CA,, USA Center for Statistical Training & Consulting, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI,, USA Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL,, USA Wellness Within, Inc., Richmond VA,, USA RTI International, Chicago IL,, USA su: Detroit (Mich.) Criminal justice system Sexual assault Community-based participatory research Social problems Longitudinal method sug: subj: Criminal justice system Sexual assault Community-based participatory research Social problems Detroit (Mich.) Other Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities Longitudinal method keyword: Action research model Collaboration Rape Rape kit Sexual assault kit Action research model Collaboration Rape Rape kit Sexual assault kit ab: In jurisdictions throughout the United States, thousands of sexual assault kits (SAKs; also known as a "rape kits") have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing. DNA evidence may be helpful to sexual assault investigations and prosecutions by identifying perpetrators, revealing serial offenders through DNA matches across cases, and exonerating those who have been wrongly accused. This paper describes a longitudinal action research project conducted in Detroit, Michigan after that city discovered approximately 11,000 untested sexual assault kits in a police department storage facility. We conducted a root cause analysis to examine individual, organizational, community, and societal factors that contributed to the development of the rape kit backlog in Detroit. Based on those findings, we implemented and evaluated structural changes to increase staffing, promote kit testing, and retrain police and prosecutors so that cases could be reopened for investigation and prosecution. As we conducted this work, we also studied how this action research project impacted the Detroit criminal justice system. Participating in this project changed stakeholders' attitudes about the utility of research to address community problems, the usefulness of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases, and the impact of trauma on survivors. The results led to new protocols for SAK testing and police investigations, and new state legislation mandating SAK forensic DNA testing. Highlights: Thousands of sexual assault kits have not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing.This paper describes a longitudinal action research project conducted in Detroit, Michigan.We also studied how this action research project impacted the Detroit criminal justice system.Participating in this project changed stakeholders' attitudes about the utility of research.The results led to new protocols for SAK testing and new legislation for SAK forensic DNA testing. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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