Research Report Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons
Subtitle
A National Snapshot of Approaches and Highlights of Innovative Strategies
Janine M. Zweig, Rebecca Naser, John Blackmore, Megan Schaffer
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Before the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003, it was not clear the extent to which state departments of corrections (DOCs) were addressing sexual violence in systematic ways. Little information existed about what strategies were being put into practice in prison systems across the country. PREA has changed the way DOCs are addressing prison sexual violence (PSV). The purpose of the current project was to provide a national snapshot of DOC initiatives to address PSV, as well as to identify specific practices that seemed to be, in the absence of formal evaluations, particularly promising or innovative in nature. Practices were identified related to policy development, prevention, investigation and prosecution, victim services, staff training, documenting incidents, and funding.
Research Areas Crime, justice, and safety
Tags Victims of crime Corrections
Policy Centers Justice Policy Center