Helping Industries to Classify Reports of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Sexual Assault
This report describes the work of a joint project between the NSVRC and the Urban Institute, in which a team of staff from both agencies developed an improved taxonomy (a system of categorization) for reports of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and sexual assault received by Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), from users of Uber's ride-sharing and other app-driven services. This improved taxonomy helps Uber to more effectively categorize reports of these sexually violent experiences, which in turn helps Uber to better determine the most appropriate outreach and ultimate action taken in response to each report.
The report also discusses the implications of this improved taxonomy for Uber's creation of transparency reports for sexual violence, and ways that this taxonomy and its method of development can improve similar efforts in other businesses and industries.
National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach
In August of 2017, the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a report on National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach. In 2013, the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Report Act (SAFER Act) was passed into law amending the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide funds for grants to be administered to laboratories to address the critical need of eliminating the backlog of sexual assault kits, the law requires an establishment of protocols and practices.
In consultation with Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, and government laboratories, the Department was required to develop and publish a description of protocols and practices to ensure accurate, timely, and effective collection and processing of DNA evidence, including practices specific to sexual assault cases. To that end, NIJ created the SAFER Working Group, which convened to develop protocols and practices to positively improve sexual assault responses and the experiences of victims.
This report, requested by congress, provides 35 of those recommended practices and protocols. For more information on the 35 recommendations and the report, please visit: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250384.pdf
In June 2017, comedian Bill Cosby will stand trial for aggravated indecent assault of a woman in his Montgomery County home more than a decade ago. The following fact sheet provides important context on sexual violence, including victim behavior and trauma, offender dynamics, and the use of drugs and alcohol to perpetrate sexual violence, to members of the media covering the trial and other interested parties.