DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37897
title: Evaluation of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, United States, 2018
title: Archival Version

description: Since 2015, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has funded sites to engage in reforms intended to improve the national response to sexual assault cases. The goals of this initiative are to (1) create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to unsubmitted sexual assault kit (SAK) cases through a victim-centered approach and (2) build jurisdictions' capacity to prevent the development of conditions that lead to high numbers of unsubmitted sexual assault kits. Site efforts to address these issues include agencies such as law enforcement, prosecution, forensic laboratories, and victim advocacy service organizations. Westat was awarded a contract by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to assess components of BJA's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). The study includes (1) an evaluability assessment of 17 sites to determine their readiness for an evaluation, (2) a process evaluation and system reform assessment of the 17 sites, (3) a feasibility assessment of using case level data for an outcome evaluation, and analysis of a subset of unsubmitted SAK cases to identify how characteristics of incidents, offenders, and victims are associated with case processing decisions and outcomes, and (4) development of a long-term outcome evaluation plan. Two sources of data are archived with NAJCD: (1) coded qualitative data from primarily on-site interviews the Westat Team conducted in 2018 with stakeholders from 17 of the fiscal year (FY) 2015 SAKI grantees and 2 private lab facilities and 2) quantitative case-level data from the 2 FY 2015 SAKI grantees on SAKI cases associated with previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits that were determined to contain foreign DNA or biological evidence through laboratory testing. The interview data file contains coded data from 172 interviews the research team conducted with one or more agency representatives regarding their organization's goals, strategies, and activities for processing sexual assault kits, and associated lessons learned, challenges, and expected outcomes. The quantitative case-level data file includes case-level information on 576 sexual assault kits determined to have DNA and associated cases included in the 2 sites' SAKI inventories. The case-level data captures information on case or offense-level information (e.g., date of offense, date offense reported to police, number of victims and suspects involved, investigation and prosecution activities), victim-level information (e.g., victim age, sex, race, participation in investigation), and suspect-level information (e.g., suspect's age, race, sex, criminal history).
description: The process evaluation and system reform assessment was designed to understand and gain perspective on two aspects of SAKI program implementation: (1) the strategies sexual assault kit initiative (SAKI) sites employed to address each stage (both discrete and iterative) of the unsubmitted SAK case process, including inventory, submission, testing, CODIS population, investigation, and prosecution, and (2) the system reform efforts sites implement and the extent to which they result in intended (or unintended) consequences. Criminal case file data can provide detailed information about the incidents, victims, and suspects associated with unsubmitted SAKs, as well as the course of action taken by investigators and prosecutors in both the original (i.e., before SAK testing) and follow-up (i.e., after SAK testing) investigations. Criminal case files may provide insights into reasons why investigations are suspended, including the nature and degree of victim participation in the investigation, victim credibility concerns, the relationship between the victim and offender, whether police personnel interviewed suspects, and whether police requested prosecutors issue an arrest warrant. As such, examining case files can provide information about the circumstances by which sexual assault cases proceed through the justice system and highlight ways to reduce the number of unsubmitted SAKs through improved policy and training.
description: To collect site visit interviews for the assessment, Westat recruited all fiscal year (FY) 2015 grantees who were willing to participate in the evaluation. Participation entailed a site visit and ongoing communication about their site's sexual assault kit initiative (SAKI) program implementation progress. 17 of the 20 FY 2015 SAKI grantee sites elected to participate in Westat's data collection activities for the evaluability assessment, including 7 state-level sites, 3 county- or multicounty-level sites, and 7 city-level sites. Westat conducted 2-day visits at each of the 17 participating sites between February and September 2018 to interview key stakeholders regarding their organization's goals, strategies, and activities for processing sexual assault kits, and associated lessons learned, challenges, and expected outcomes. Westat gathered documents for all 20 sites and obtained Performance Measurement Tool (PMT) data as of Quarter 2 of 2019 from BJA for all 20 FY 2015 SAKI grantees. Westat used qualitative analytic methods for the interview data. Westat coded the interview data collected from the 17 participating sites using a set of inductive codes based on the key dimensions related to the research questions. Using a set of defined criteria, Westat identified sites well suited for participating in sharing case-level data. Of the 17 FY 2015 SAKI sites involved in the evaluability assessment, Westat contacted 9 to assess further the sites' capacity to provide case-level data and to solicit participation. Recruiting sites for participation presented many challenges. For example, several sites remained in the early stages of completing their grant work and would not yet have data on SAK testing results or post-SAK testing case outcomes. Many sites lacked sufficient staffing and other resources necessary for participating; and sites frequently faced administrative and legal constraints to data sharing. 4 of the 9 sites participated in the initial stages of the case-level, data sharing project and Westat ultimately obtained case-level data from 2 sites. Westat worked with 4 sites to develop a data collection instrument that captured information about the incident, victim, suspect, and investigation activities of each case. The instrument included measures of characteristics and activities that occurred at the time of the original investigation (i.e., before SAK testing) and at the time of the follow-up investigation (after SAK testing). The data collection and data sharing methods differed between the two participating sites. Site 1, a city-level site without a research partner, provided law enforcement agency case files in electronic form to Westat. Westat research staff reviewed the case files and recorded information onto the data collection instrument. Site 1 also shared spreadsheets that contained information about SAK testing results. Site 2, a county-level site with a research partner, shared an electronic database with Westat that contained case-level data as specified in the data collection instrument. Both sites initially shared data for all cases in their SAKI inventories with Westat (n= 1,287). Due to time and resource constraints, as well as participating sites' focus on cases associated with kits that contained foreign DNA because these were the cases most likely to receive follow-up investigations and proceed through to prosecution, Westat limited data extraction to those cases in which foreign DNA was identified during SAK forensic testing.
description: Dataset 1: With the exception of the identifiers for site, lab, and interview, all of the variables included in the data file are dichotomous and represent the presence or absence of themes highlighted during the coding process. The themes address the range of activities, strategies, and processes sites implemented to reduce and resolve unsubmitted kit cases and improve current case processing through system reform efforts. Dataset 2: Variables in this dataset capture case or offense-level information (e.g., date of offense, date offense reporting to police, number of victims/suspects involved, investigation and prosecution activities), victim-level information (e.g., victim age, sex, race, participation in investigation), and suspect-level information (e.g., suspect's age, race, sex, criminal history).
description: None used.
description: Response Rates: Of the 20 2015 NIJ funded sites, 17 SAKI sites agreed to participate in the evaluability assessment and process evaluation and system reform assessment. Case-level data from two sites were included in the case-level analysis.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Using a set of well-defined criteria, Westat identified sites well suited for participating in sharing case-level data. Out of 17 FY 2015 SAKI sites involved in the Evaluation Assessment, Westat contacted 9 sites. Due to difficulties such as sites' lack of sufficient staffing and administrative or legal concerns about data sharing, only 4 of 9 sites participated in the initial stages of case-level data sharing and Westat ultimately obtained case-level data from 2 sites.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Site Visit Interview Data DS2: Case Analysis Data
description: Dataset 1: Stakeholders from the FY 2015 Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grantee sites and private lab facilities. Dataset 2: Sexual assault kit cases from FY 2015 SAKI sites. . Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: face-to-face interview; mixed mode; on-site questionnaire; telephone interview; web-based survey