Sage Williams and Julie Valentine, College of Nursing

Introduction:

Sexual assault has serious community health and social consequences and is a prevalent problem throughout the United States. Although many would like to believe that this is only a national problem, recent studies have shown that Utah is not an exception. In Utah, one in three women are sexually assaulted and one in six are raped (Mitchell & Peterson, 2008). Forcible rape is the only violent crime factor in which Utah is higher than the national average (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013).

In order to understand how to begin taking action to solve this problem, it is important to know the process of reporting and prosecuting sexual assault. A victim of sexual assault can choose to come into an emergency room to seek help as well as report the event. A specialized nurse, a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE), will do a complete physical examination noting injuries and collecting DNA as well as an interview. This information is compiled into a sexual assault kit (SAK) which is then submitted to law enforcement. Law enforcement will decide whether to submit the SAK to crime lab for it to be processed and used as evidence later in the prosecution of the perpetrator. It is known that the majority of perpetrators are repeat offenders (Colussi et al., 2009; Lisak & Miller, 2002) and so it is essential that evidence from SAKs is processed to be used in prosecution. Unfortunately, due to cost, negative views and disbelief of victims by law enforcement (Du Mont & White, 2013) many SAKs are never submitted to crime lab and are either forgotten or destroyed. From a study from 2010 to 2012 performed in Salt Lake County, Utah only 20% of SAKs were submitted to the state crime lab and only 9% had the full DNA analysis completed (Valentine, 2013). In Salt Lake County, only 6% of sexual assault cases were prosecuted from 2003 to 2011 (Valentine, 2013) and this low SAK submission to crime lab can be attributed as one of the underlying causes of the low prosecution rates. Developing a computerized tracking system would allow victims to track their SAKs through crime lab. This would prevent the backlog or destruction of SAKs with the anticipated result of increased prosecution rates.

Methodology:

Utah was recently rewarded two prestigious federal grants totaling in about 3.3 million dollars to provide funding for this problem. The District Attorney of New York (DANY) grant will provide the funds to process all previous SAKs that have not yet been analyzed in crime lab. The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (NSAKI) is for the purpose of developing a computerized system to track the submission, processing and completion of SAKs. As part of the NSAKI the Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (USAKI) multidisciplinary working group has been formed. The USAKI will be directly involved in overseeing the creation of the computerized system as well as submitting quarterly reports for the Bureau of Justice Assistance and District Attorney’s Office of New York. While the DANY and NSAKI grants provide a considerable amount of funding, they are not sufficient for including research assistants to assist in these changes. The ORCA grant allowed me to assist in these unprecedented changes. My duties included taking minutes at monthly meetings, assembling an online database for
committee members to access, and presenting at the University of Utah Undergraduate Research Conference.

Results:

No results can be discussed. The project will continue for three years and results are released by the press with the approval of working group members.
Discussion and Conclusion: The lessons that I learned from this project were invaluable. Attending the working group meetings and interacting with each member of the committee allowed me to understand the incredible amount of collaboration that is necessary in order for policy changes to be made. Progress was slow and each meeting presented new challenges both for the group as a whole as well as challenges for individual members within the committee. I gained an appreciation for the pivotal skill of communication. Each member of the committee was from a different discipline and had their own concerns and agendas. The most effective progress came when members had the ability to communicate clearly and concisely. I was also able to see firsthand the power that research has in changing procedures.

Eight months into the project, some political events resulted in our team being eliminated from the working group. This was devastating. The lessons I learned from this experience impacted me deeply. I saw the example of my mentor, Julie Valentine, as she immediately began work on another project. In an issue as important as this, she would not let forces outside of her control to dictate her impact on this work. Since beginning work on this ORCA, I have learned the importance of determination and perseverance. These experiences will serve as a foundation for me as I go out into the world and continue to make changes in the professional practice of nursing.

References:

• Colussi, A., Viegas, M., Ortiz, M.I., Bozzo, W.R., & Lojo, M. (2009). Sexual assault cases related to unknown perpetrators: Almost 50% of the analyzed cases correspond to serial offenders. Forensic Science International, 2 (1), 143-144.
• Du Mont, J., & White, D. (2013). Barriers to the effective use of medico-legal
  findings in sexual assault cases worldwide. Qualitative Health Research, 23(9), 1228-1239. doi:10.1177/1049732313502396
• Federal Bureau of Investigations, Uniform Crime Reports, (2013). Retrieved from www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1994-2013.xls
• Lisak, D. & Miller, P.M. (2002). Repeat rape and multiple offending among
  undetected rapists. Violence and Victims, 17 (1), 73—84.
• Mitchell, C. & Peterson, B., (2008). Rape in Utah 2007: A survey of Utah women.
  Retrieved from http://nomoresecrets.utah.gov/Documents/RapeinUtah2007.pdf
• Valentine, J.L. (2013). Implementation of the National Institute of Justice Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Toolkit in Salt Lake County, 2003-2011. Unpublished Study, College of Nursing, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.