Material Listing

This report focuses on the impact of the U visa, which was created by Congress to enhance victim safety and public safety by encouraging immigrant victims to report and assist in the investigation or prosecution of violent crimes.

This resource guide explains the eligibility and benefits of the U visa for victims of eligible crimes and the T Visa for victims of trafficking. It also provides information about the role that law enforcement or other agencies may have in the issuance of certifications.

By providing U‐visa certifications, law enforcement officials add to their arsenal of crime fighting tools because victims feel safer coming forward to report crimes. This document provides the following background information on the U‐visa: an overview of the U‐visa and a section on law enforcement officials and the U‐visa certification.

An extensive survey conducted by the National Immigrant Women's Advocacy Project (NIWAP) in partnership with the ACLU shows that the fear of deportation — magnified by immigration arrests in courthouses — is stopping immigrants from reporting crimes and participating in court proceedings. This report outlines findings from the survey.

This webpage from the National Immigrant Women's Advocacy Project features a variety of resources that may be helpful for law enforcement officials. Resources include information on working with limited English proficient victims, as well as forms of immigration relief such as U and T visas and VAWA self-petitions.

This toolkit provides tools and resources to assist law enforcement agencies in building or enhancing effective operational responses to children exposed to violence.

This resource puts together brief summaries of some of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Committee’s (CEDAW) key decisions related to violence against women and state responsibility to end it.

This report includes recommendations from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in response to the extremely high levels of violence experienced by aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

This security toolkit draws together the key lessons of the past decade in promoting gender equality in security and justice. The toolkit shares new and emerging good practices, reflect upon how successes in increasing gender equality have been achieved and move forward thinking about integrating a gender perspective in security and justice sector institutions.

In three modules, this resource covers lessons on how to apply gender concepts to policing; how to develop a police gender strategy and action plan; how to assist the host state police in developing and implementing a gender equality policy and recruiting female police officers; and how to establish special police units to address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

The U.N.'s general Recommendation No. 19 from 1992 was historic as it clearly framed violence against women as a form and manifestation of gender-based discrimination, used to subordinate and oppress women. 25 years later, General Recommendation No. 35 elaborates on the gender-based nature of this form of violence, building on the work of the Committee and other international human rights mechanisms, as well as developments at national, regional and international levels.

The Maputo Protocol is a treaty instrument that is binding on all countries that ratify it. Proponents of the Maputo Protocol present it as a method of combating female genital mutilation in Africa, where it is more common than elsewhere.

The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, known as the Convention of Belém do Pará, defines violence against women, establishes that women have the right to live a life free of violence and that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

This landmark treaty of the Council of Europe opens the path for creating a legal framework at pan-European level to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.

In analyzing the evolution of federal legislation in the United States, the author highlights how a human rights framework calls for a more comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to ending gender-based violence. It recognizes that domestic violence is not a private family matter and that the state has an obligation in efforts to prevent and respond to this violence in a manner that is holistic, effective and accessible to all.

In Toradze v. Georgia, a law enforcement officer used his position of power to perpetuate a domestic violence situation in the country of Georgia. The Amicus Brief urged the European Court to consider, in the context provided by the case of Toradze v. Georgia, important principles that have been developed by international, regional, and national authorities on policing and human rights, and to apply a heightened responsibility standard in cases of officer-perpetrated gender based violence.

Jessica Lenahan’s three daughters were kidnapped and killed by her estranged husband due to the lack of actions taken by local law enforcement. She took her case before the U.S. Supreme Court and then before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. This webpage includes the amicus briefs regarding her case, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decision, and the press releases regarding this decision.

This documentary tells the story of Jessica Lenahan, whose three daughters were kidnapped and killed by her estranged husband due to the lack of actions taken by local law enforcement.

The guide provides an overview of human rights law’s approach to addressing gender-based violence. Specifically, the guide focuses on the “due diligence” standard and provides a comprehensive framework to address human rights violations in a systemic and proactive manner.

This resource examines the issue of violence against women in the Americas through the lens of a landmark legal case, Jessica Gonzales v. the United States, which was heard in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and has had reverberations in legal jurisdictions across the globe.

This resource list from ASISTA includes national resources, including webpages dedicated to U visa certification issues and ways to work more effectively with law enforcement.

The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Protection Order File contains information on court orders which are issued to prevent acts of domestic violence against a person or to prevent a person from stalking, intimidating, or harassing another person.  This presentation thoroughly examines this NCIC file and how it can be used effectively by criminal justice agencies all across the U.S.

This webinar introduces multi-disciplinary participants to the work of the Sexual Violence Justice Institute and explore the complexities of sexual violence, especially for programs and communities that see a limited number of disclosures. 

This collection of resources from the Vera Institute of Justice describes the new trends of state level policing practices from 2015 and 2016.

This Technical Assistance brief provides suggestions for advocates, survivor/victims, communities, agencies, and service providers to address sexual violence. It takes into account the discomfort and vulnerabilities advocates themselves may face, issues related to language access, and effective interventions.