Sexual Assault Crimes Training for Law Enforcement

1
Sexual Assault Crimes Trainingfor Law Enforcement

• Module 2
• Interviewing Victims
• Effective Report Writing

2
ACTIVITY

• What Do You Already Know?

3
What You Will Learn

• Considerations for working with sexual assault
  victims and witnesses in preliminary and follow
  up interviews
• Barriers to effective interviewing
• Report writing techniques that support the
  successful prosecution of cases

4
ACTIVITY

• What is the single most important factor in
  determining success of interviews with sexual
  assault victims?
• How long should you wait before holding the first
  interview?

5
Who is Present for the Interview?

• Victim and Officer
• Victim Advocate, if victim wishes
• Ask victim privately about other support people
• Do not include witnesses in interview with victim
  (even if they are supportive)

6
Conducting the Interview

• Ask the victim where they would like to do
  interview
• Reassure the victim its not their fault
• Sit down if possible and try to respect the
  physical space a victim might want
• Use smooth movements and a calm voice try to
  express patience, friendliness, and support

7
Ask Victim to Describe Experiences in Their Own
Words

• Ask the victim to describe the assault, listing
  as many details and feelings as possible
• Ask what the environment was like - what did they
  see/ hear/ feel/ smell/ taste?
• Document what no looked like and when note
  all verbal AND non-verbal lack of consent
• If a consensual encounter turned non-consensual,
  ask about how and when the perpetrator's behavior
  changed

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Use Open-Ended Prompts

• Try using the following questions to guide your
  conversation
• And then what happened?
• Tell me what you were thinking at that point.
• Tell me what you were feeling when the offender
  did that.
• What can you remember saying and doing?

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Allow Information to Flow for the Victim

• Always remember to do the following when working
  with a victim of sexual assault
• LISTEN and dont interrupt
• Ask for only what they can recall at the moment
• Be comfortable with pauses
• Avoid leading questions
• Let the victim know they can ask for a break
• Let the victim know its okay to say I dont
  know
• Keep in mind that information gathered following
  experiencing a trauma may come out in spurts, be
  out of order, or be inaccurate
• Keep in mind that you will be able to sort out an
  accurate timeline later

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Common Responses to Trauma

• Perceptual narrowing
• Loss of cognitive and motor skills
• Critical incident amnesia
• Discomfort with discussing details
• Inconsistencies in relaying information however,
  it does not mean its a false report

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Allow Victim to Take the Lead

• Allow the victim to focus on one topic until the
  mental picture becomes clear and the retrieved
  information complete
• Silence allows the victim to collect their
  thoughts
• Use natural pauses to ask questions and clarify
  Do I have that right?
• Write down your own questions for the follow up
  interview

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Additional Challenges for Victims

• Possible illegal activity drug or underage
  alcohol use
• Status in oppressed or underserved groups
• Immigration status issues
• Cultural issues can affect victim reactions

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Working with Under-Served Populations

• Show sensitivity
• Keep in mind they have likely had a negative
  experience with a person in a position of power
  in the past
• Be mindful about victims fears of working with
  law enforcement

14
Victim May Give You Information

• Remember that experiencing trauma can affect
  memory. Victims might share information that is
  
• Not consistent
• Not true
• Not complete
• But that does NOT mean its a false report.

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Purpose of Follow Up Interview

• Gather additional information and clarify any
  questions not to go over the same material
  again

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Arranging Follow Up Interview

• Make sure victim has had adequate rest before the
  second interview
• Ask where victim would like to conduct interview
  - where victim feels safe
• Assist with transportation if needed
• Contact a Victim Advocate if victim wishes (if
  this hasnt happened already)

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Explain Process to the Victim

• Explain that other people will be reading report
• Remind victim it wasnt their fault
• Explain that we need to clarify any
  inconsistencies so that other people who read the
  report will understand what happened
• Explain why you are asking about specific details
  about sex acts or other issues - for example, to
  meet legal requirements to show a sexual assault
  occurred

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Additional Items to Address

• Let victim know its better if they disclose any
  illegal activity sooner helps their credibility
• Address victim concerns about prosecution
• Dont ask victim whether they want to participate
  in prosecution yet wait until end of
  investigation
• Explain next steps in the process
• Reassure that assault wasnt their fault

19
ACTIVITY

• One Minute Review Fact Check

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ACTIVITY

• What are the barriers to effective interviewing
  of sexual assault victims?

21
Report Writing

• Purpose is to support successful prosecution
• Recreate reality of what happened from
  perspective of victim
• Reminder Lack of consent is communicated
  through more than just words victims look away,
  close eyes, position or move their body as
  strategies to survive the assault

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Document Victims Experience

• Record what victim was thinking and feeling
• Before
• During
• After the assault
• Preserve any slang or street terms victim uses
  important not to clean up for the report (but
  be sure you and victim are communicating clearly)

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Use Language of Non-Consensual Sex

• Use words that describe parts of the body
• Forced penis into vagina (instead of sexual
  intercourse
• Forced tongue into vagina or penis into mouth
  (instead of oral sex)
• Hand on victims breast (instead of fondle or
  caress)

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Include in the Report

• Grooming behavior by offender
• Context of fear, force, threat, coercion and/or
  inability to consent by the victim
• Victims experience of tonic immobility
• Environment in which assault took place
  isolation, sound proofing
• Evidence of verbal and/or physical resistance
  from the victim

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More Elements to Include

• Factors increasing victims vulnerability (youth,
  inexperience, subordinate position, immigration
  status)
• Evidence of genital and/or non-genital injury
• Changes in routine habits after assault (such as
  dramatic weight gain/loss)
• Relevant electronic evidence text messages,
  Facebook posts, etc.

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Documentation

• Be sure to document ALL information from the
  victim, even if it doesnt cast them in a
  positive light
• Look for ways to document the victims behaviors
  and state of mind before and after assault how
  did the victim change?
• Find out who the victim told following the
  assault often called the outcry witness

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ACTIVITY

• One Sentence Summary on Report Writing

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ACTIVITY

• Review of Learning
• Compare and contrast the knowledge and
  assumptions you had about investigations and
  report writing with what you know now.
• Use the worksheet to write down some comparisons.

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Checklists to Review on Your Own

• What to SAY to a Victim During First Response
• What to SAY to a Victim During the Follow Up
  Interview
• What to GIVE a Victim
• Forensic Exams - Victims and Suspects
• Reminders for Report Writing for Sexual Assault
  Crimes

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Special Thanks

• Special thanks to Joanne Archambault, End
  Violence Against Women International (EVAWI).
  Foundational material in this module is based on
  concepts and information found in the Online
  Training Institute developed by EVAWI. For more
  information, please contact
• Joanne Archambault, Executive Director
• End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI)
• http//www.evawintl.org/onlinetraining.aspx
• This module was produced by Connecticut Sexual
  Assault Crisis Services, Inc. (CONNSACS) in
  collaboration with the Connecticut Police
  Officers Standards and Training Council
  (POSTC) and the Connecticut Police Chiefs
  Association (CPCA) through the support of
  subgrant No. 2009-WF-AX-0019 awarded by the state
  administrating office for the STOP Formula Grant
  Program.  The opinions, findings, conclusions,
  and recommendations expressed in this publication
  are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
  reflect the views of the state or the U.S.
  Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against
  Women.