DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38921.v1
title: Evaluating a Victim Notification Protocol for Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs): How Do Survivors Define Justice Years After An Assault?, Detroit, Michigan, 2019-2020
title: Version 1

description: After a sexual assault, victims are advised to have a medical forensic exam, including the collection of a sexual assault kit (SAK) to preserve forensic evidence of the crime. The SAK samples can be analyzed for DNA, which can help prosecute assailants and prevent future assaults. However, police do not routinely submit SAKs for forensic DNA testing, and large stockpiles of untested kits have been documented in over 41 jurisdictions. To address this growing national problem, many cities are now testing all of their older rape kits. Re-contacting survivors to inform them that their SAK had not been tested and now will be/has been tested is referred to as 'victim notification.' This study explored how victim notifications can support survivors' well-being and promote justice. Researchers conducted qualitative interviews with 32 sexual assault survivors in Detroit, MI. All participants had experienced a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Hit Re-Engagement Victim Notification, in which law enforcement personnel contacted survivors to inform them that their SAKs had been tested and the testing yielded a suspect DNA match in the FBI's national criminal database CODIS. All survivors agreed to re-engage with the criminal legal system and participate in the investigation and prosecution of these cases. Researchers also completed qualitative interviews with 12 community-based advocates about their experiences providing advocacy and support to these survivors throughout their notification and re-engagement experiences. They used semi-structured interviews to document:

Survivors' CODIS Hit Re-Engagement Victim Notification experiences;
Survivors' decision-making processes regarding re-engagement with the criminal legal system;
Survivors' re-engagement experiences with the criminal legal system and the extent to which their court experiences provided procedural, distributive, retributive, and/or restorative justice;
Survivors' advocacy experiences from victim notification through criminal legal system re-engagement.
description: The purpose of this study was to explore how victim notifications can support survivors' well-being and promote justice.
description: Researchers used a qualitative transcendental phenomenological research design, which seeks to identify common features of a shared lived experience, which in this study was the experience of a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Hit Re-Engagement Victim Notification. Semi-structured interviews were used to document: 1) survivors' CODIS Hit Re-Engagement Victim Notification experiences (Goal 1); 2) survivors' decision-making processes regarding re-engagement with the criminal legal system (Goal 2); 3) survivors' re-engagement experiences with the criminal legal system and the extent to which their court experiences provided procedural, distributive, retributive, and/or restorative justice (Goal 3); and 4) survivors' advocacy experiences from victim notification through criminal legal system re-engagement (Goal 4).
Researchers conducted qualitative interviews with 32 sexual assault survivors in Detroit, MI. All participants had experienced a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Hit Re-Engagement Victim Notification. Law enforcement personnel employed by the county prosecutor's office contacted survivors to inform them that their sexual assault kits (SAKs) had been finally been tested and the testing yielded a suspect DNA match in the FBI's national criminal database CODIS. All survivors agreed to re-engage with the criminal legal system and participate in the investigation and prosecution of these cases. Researchers also completed qualitative interviews with 12 community-based advocates about their experiences providing advocacy and support to these survivors throughout their notification and re-engagement experiences.
description: Response Rates: Of the 112 eligible survivors, the advocates were unable to reach 68
survivors (61% of eligible survivors) and were able to connect with 44
survivors (39% of eligible survivors).
description: Sexual
assault survivors were eligible to participate in this study if:

They were
currently aged 18 or older;
They had been sexually assaulted in Detroit, MI,
had a SAK collected and reported to police, but police did not initially submit
their kit for DNA testing;
Their previously-unsubmitted SAK was discovered
in this city's backlog and was finally submitted for testing, and based on the
testing results, they had been selected for a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Hit Re-Engagement Victim
Notification;
Their legal case had been re-opened and prosecuted;
Their case had been adjudicated and closed (by guilty plea bargain or trial).


Over 20 months of recruitment, 112 survivors met the study's eligibility
criteria.
The community-based sexual assault victim
service agency that participated in these CODIS Hit Re-Engagement Victim
Notifications could not share the names and contact information of eligible
survivors with the research team, per their agency's confidentiality policies
and the policies of their funders (VAWA/VOCA). Therefore, researchers developed a
recruitment protocol so that agency advocates could contact eligible survivors
and ask whether they would be interested in participating in a research
interview. The protocol specified:

How advocates could reach out to
survivors, based on their preferred modality during their court case;
How
often advocates would attempt to contact a survivor, which was typically up to
four times over the course of two weeks, followed by a two week break, then two
final contacts;
What advocates should say in voice mail messages (if
survivors had given permission for messages);
How advocates should explain
the purpose of the project, the expected time commitment, and compensation;
How to schedule the interviews.


The research team and advocates conducted
mock recruitment calls to practice the scripts, and had weekly check-in
meetings with the agency to ensure fidelity to the protocol.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Evaluating a Victim Notification Protocol for Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs): How Do Survivors Define Justice Years After An Assault?, Detroit, Michigan, 2019-2020
description: Sexual assault survivors in Detroit, Michigan.
description: face-to-face interview; telephone interviewThis release is a documentation only Fast Track Release and files are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped for release. Users should consult the investigator is further information is needed.