AUSTIN, Texas -- Researchers at University of Texas' Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault have developed a guide for police to notify sexual assault survivors when their rape kits are being tested without re-traumatizing them.
- 5-step community guide
- Insight for police officers
- Studied more than 40 survivors
On Wednesday, the institute released a first of its kind five-step community guide, called the Notification for Victims of Assault (NoVA). It gives police insight on the best practices to approach survivors as their rape kits are being processed.
"It calls law enforcement to look at their readiness to change. It looks at individual readiness to change and learn about the life altering experience of sexual assault," said Director Noel Busch-Armendariz.
The guide also aims to help officials develop a victim-centered, trauma-informed response by offering real-life case studies from more than 40 sexual assault survivors.
"What we knew is, if you gave your DNA evidence five or 10 years ago, that experience of being victimized was going to be pulled back up," said Busch-Armendariz.
NoVA utilized previous research from another project focused on Houston's rape kit backlog. The guide recognizes delays in testing of rape kits can often further traumatize survivors.
"That can add another layer to the trauma and to the healing. It can feel like your case didn't matter. It can feel like your assault didn't matter," added Coni Stogner with the SAFE Alliance. "If this assault happened many years ago, there may be survivors that haven't thought about this or tried to put this behind them."
Stonger believes the guide can assist law enforcement in empowering survivors, if care is taken.
"They are very instructive on how have those conversations in a trauma-informed way. It's really important that we try to put some of those choices back in the survivors’ hands," said Stogner.
The research was funded by the Office of Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Law enforcement can use the guide as a framework for developing protocols involving current backlogs.