Material Listing

This brief document highlights how a coordinated response to firearm removal can increase the efficiency of a jurisdiction’s surrender procedures. El Paso’s efforts resulted in a guide of multidisciplinary protocols of firearm surrender that may be adapted to meet the removal goals of many jurisdictions.

This library compiles resources for promoting safer families and safer communities. Included are webinars, legal and policy analyses, promising practices and policies, research, and more helpful tools for law enforcement officers and community members.

This webinar provides a detailed description of engaging in a best practice assessment of the civil protection order system. Considerations for jurisdictions interested in conducting assessments, as well as the technical assistance provided by the National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith & Credit (NCPOFFC) are discussed.

In this webinar, detective Carrie Hull and Susan Moen share how the “You Have Options” program is reducing barriers to reporting sexual assault. “You Have Options” is the result of over two years working in collaboration with victims, victim advocates, and other community partners to identify ways law enforcement can increase sexual assault reporting to ultimately have a better chance at holding offenders accountable.

Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) provide an organized and community-based response to sexual assault, bringing together a collection of stakeholders including rape victim advocates, medical/forensic examiners, law enforcement, and prosecutors. To understand how an effective SART works, NIJ-funded researchers studied the structure and operations of SARTS across the United States. Findings are featured in this article.

This webinar discusses the Detroit Sexual Assault Kit Action Research Project, which was formed to study the underlying reasons why police were not submitting rape kits for testing, and to develop evidence-based testing plans.

This webinar from the Battered Women's Justice Project introduces advocates to the evolution of campus-based responses to sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence in the past decade. 

This resource presents the results of a survey regarding officer perceptions and agency response to sexual assault given to a group of campus police officers in Texas. It also provides insight regarding how sexual assault is perceived and handled by campus law enforcement agencies.

The purpose of the Blueprint for Campus Police: Responding to Sexual Assault is to fill gaps in current research and identify best practices in campus police response to sexual assault. This resource is intended to serve as a guide or toolkit for police at all levels (chief executives, investigation, and patrol) in response to sexual assault crimes with the implementation of victim-centered and trauma-informed approaches.

This webinar presents findings from a national study of domestic violence and provides information on the incident reporting, police and advocate responses in various contexts. The presenter reviews best practices for arrest, victim/perpetrator separation and safety planning.

Part 2 of the Battered Women's Justice Project's CCR Problem-Solving Series, this webinar explores the role and responsibilities of law enforcement in their initial response to domestic violence cases.

This article includes a historical perspective on the role of victim advocates within the criminal justice system, highlights reluctancy advocates might experience when assisting victims, and provides tools for how advocates can work with law enforcement officials who might not believe the victim or feel like the facts “don’t add up.”

This CDC Vital Signs report examines the types of violence experienced by teens age 14 to 18 years old and highlights how experiences of violence are associated with health conditions and risky behaviors.

This report from Black Women's Blueprint discusses the prevalence of officer-perpetrated sexual assault and its impact on Black women. It explains how sexual assault and/or rape constitute an act of torture and requires understanding this issue through the historical context of the institution and legacy of slavery.

This is a summary of a roundtable focused on criminalization policies and their effect on Black women and girls. The discussion centered the experiences of Black women and girls who have survived domestic and sexual abuse and provided an opportunity to consider how the intersection of multiple aspects of a person’s identity shape their experience with criminalization policies.

This document provides an overview of the ways in which America’s history of racism and oppression continues to manifest in the criminal justice system. It also provides a summary of research demonstrating how the system perpetuates the disparate treatment of Black people and explains how the evidence helps account for the hugely disproportionate impact of mass incarceration on millions of Black people, their families, and their communities.

Hosted by the American Bar Association, this webinar features an open and honest discussion on racial justice in the United States in light of the events since the murder of George Floyd. The panel provided perspectives from the African American, Muslim, Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American communities.

This document provides recommendations on recognizing and understanding the impact of trauma on survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

This article describes the case of Daniel Holtzclaw, a former police officer in Oklahoma City who was accused of raping thirteen women while on duty over a 6-month period and was ultimately convicted on 18 counts of rape and sexual assault.

In a yearlong investigation of sexual misconduct by U.S. law enforcement, the Associated Press uncovered about 1,000 officers who lost their badges in a six-year period for sexual assault, other sex crimes, or sexual misconduct. The AP’s findings, coupled with other research and interviews with experts, suggest that sexual misconduct is among the most prevalent type of complaint against law officers.

This webinar, hosted by Professor Leigh Goodmark, Director of the Gender Violence Clinic at the University of Maryland School of Law, discusses the findings of her investigation into law enforcement-perpetrated domestic violence.

This webinar highlights Andrea Ritchie's research which determined that 52 percent of 35 police departments surveyed in the U.S. do not have a policy addressing or preventing sexual violence by police officers, despite the issuance of a 2011 guidance on the subject by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

This article discusses the dynamics and tactics commonly encountered in officer-involved domestic violence.

This webinar highlights how batterers who wear a badge can misuse their professional training and authority as weapons against their victims. Officers who are victims of intimate partner violence may be reluctant to identify as victims and may face negative professional consequences for reporting, or failing to report, the abuse.

This article highlights an interview with author Andrea J. Ritchie, who wrote Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. Ritchie describes some of the ways in which women of color experience police violence.