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Conferences
The three-day conference will take place on October 12-15, 2004 in Ottawa Canada, and on October 26-29 in San Diego, California. The conference will consist of three full day sessions, Wednesday through Friday, 8:30-5:30 PM. The conference will begin with pre-registration on Tuesday afternoon and an opening banquet and opening address that evening.
The Making a Difference conference will redefine the
central issues for responding to sexual violence, with particular emphasis on
assaults that do not fit the stereotype of a stranger rape (e.g., those
committed by a non-stranger, with a credible social standing, who does not use
a weapon or cause physical injury).
Participants will acquire a new frame of reference that
will facilitate more effective collaboration between police, forensic
examiners, victim advocates, and prosecutors. The outcome will be a unified
strategy among the community-participants, in which their combined effort
brings the team approach to new levels of effectiveness for:
Recognizing and effectively responding to typical sexual
assaults
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Realistic Characteristics of Sexual Assault.
Understanding the importance of cultural myths and
misconceptions regarding sexual assault.
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Challenges. Identifying the unique challenges faced
when investigating and prosecuting crimes of sexual assault.
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Barriers. Recognizing and removing barriers to the
criminal justice system and victim services.
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Skills. Developing
skills to overcome challenges to a victim’s credibility and corroborating
every possible aspect of her story while facilitating rapport and cooperation.
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Collaboration. Promoting
a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach.
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Developing a New Success Measure.
Arrest is often
used as a tool to measure the outcome of a crime report.
Sexual Assault Response Teams must reevaluate these mechanisms and
question the final outcome of every case.
Implementing collaborative strategies for “Making a
Difference”
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Victim Support. Providing supports for victims that
take the trauma out of reporting
and going to trial by combating re-victimization.
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Public Awareness. Documenting the myths and
stereotypes that make effective prosecution of sexual assaults difficult,
and challenging these biases.
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Challenging the Legal Process. Raising objections and
appealing cases that in the past have fallen outside the effective
jurisdiction of the criminal justice process.
Becoming “Partners for Change”
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Power of Local Collaboration. Promoting a
multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach that
helps each organization do a better job,
increasing the effectiveness of the total process.
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National Social Action. Working with seven other
participant-communities to accomplish a larger goal of stimulating national
social change.
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Learning Organizations. Acquiring the capacity to
stimulate structural and organizational developments in ones own agency and
community.