Council on Women and Girls: Raising Awareness About Stalking

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/30/raising-awareness-about-stalking

Press Release: Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces End to Backlog that Slowed DNA Analysis at Justice Department Labs

Wednesday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced the end to the rape kit backlog that had previously delayed the analysis of evidence collected through forensic examinations. As you know, Atty. Gen. Harris has made the issue of the rape kit backlog one of her priorities.  In her statement, Harris stated that the California Department of Justice will now be able to analyze routine DNA evidence in only 30 days, which is up to four times faster than before the backlog had been eliminated.

See Press Release Here:
http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/print_release.php?id=2615

CalEMA Informational Bulletin: Sexual Assault FAQs

Full FAQ here: http://www.californiapolicechiefs.org/files/legislative/VAWA_Information_Bulletin.pdf


New California Law To Implement Federal Violence Against Women Act (Vawa) Requirements:

All victims of sexual assault who request a sexual assault forensic medical examination shall be provided one,
and the cost of the examination cannot be charged directly or indirectly to the victim.

No victim of sexual assault shall be required to participate or agree to participate with the local law
enforcement agency or the criminal justice system, either prior to the examination, or at any other time.

Webinar on Assessing Trauma in Recovery-Oriented Practice

Webinar next week on assessing trauma in people with symptoms of mental illness:
 http://www.thenetwork123.com/resources/webcasts/1052-qassessing-for-and-addressing-trauma-in-recovery-oriented-practiceq.html

Shit Everybody Says to Rape Victims

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/01/shit_everybody_says_to_rape_victims_video.html

Article: Domestic violence activists call on Mirkarimi to step down

read for more info

Ellen Pence has Passed

Ellen Pence, a co-founder of Duluth’s world-renowned Domestic Abuse Intervention Project and a woman considered the “mother” of domestic violence intervention. Ellen, 63, died Friday morning after a long struggle with breast cancer. CALCASA would like to acknowledge Ellen's impact to the Violence Against Women movement. As someone who committed her life to advocating on behalf of survivors, her work will continue through those she inspired and touched. 

Revisions to Uniform Crime Report's definition of rape

Attorney General Eric Holder announced revisions to the Uniform Crime Report’s definition of rape! CALCASA has been following this process closely, and this is exciting news about national statistical reporting of rape.

For more info, see here:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-ag-018.html

http://calcasa.org/publicaffairs/fbi-rape-definition/

Can an Advocate be excluded from a SART interview?

Here are the bullets of CALCASA's response:

- When a victim elects to have a 'victim advocate' present, that person cannot be excluded from the interview. A 'victim advocate' is specifically defined as a sexual assault counselor, as defined in Section 1035.2 of the Evidence Code, or a victim advocate working in a center established under Article 2 (commencing with Section 13835) of Chapter 4 of Title 6 of Part 4. 

- 'Victim advocates' are 1) trained in assisting and counseling victims of sexual assault and 2) are engaged in the work of providing guidance and assistance to such victims, either at rape crisis centers of through nonprofit agencies dedicated to helping victims and witnesses of crime.

- A 'support person' CAN be excluded if officials determine that the support person's presence "would be detrimental to the purpose of the interview". This is support person is NOT a certified 'victim advocate'. On page 5 of this document, 'support person' is defined in depth but essentially, a 'support person' is neither required nor expected to bring any special training, credentials, or expertise to the proceeding.

- A 'support person' could be excluded if their "presence operates either to further traumatize the victim or to other side disrupt the interview process, thereby impeding law enforcement efforts to identify and apprehend wrong doers".

http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/opinions/pdfs/o594_11-203.pdf

Sexual Assaults in the Mission

http://www.missionstation.org/sexual-assault-update.html

SFPD has updates at this link. Please direct all inquiries to the link above.