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Summer 2005 |
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Sexual Assault Response Team
DVD debuts at national SART
conference
 The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) provided
funding to the Sexual Assault Resource
Service to create a brief video on DVD that
highlights the history and accomplishments
of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs).
The Service partnered with Video/Action
Fund to produce “Sexual Assault Response
Teams: Partnering for Success,” an 8-minute
DVD that was piloted during the opening
session of the 3rd National Sexual Assault Response
Team Training Conference, June 1–3,
2005, in San Francisco. The DVD features interviews
with survivors, victim advocates,
forensic medical professionals, law enforcement
officers, and prosecutors. It describes
the benefits of the SART's multidisciplinary
response to victims of sexual violence and
highlights the progress made in serving victims
and enhancing prosecution of sexual assault
cases. The DVD also addresses emerging
issues faced by first responders and challenges
that continue to shape the response
of SARTs. If you are interested in receiving a
free copy, please call NCJRS at 1-800-851-3420;
TTY (toll free) 1-877-712-9279; (local)
301-947-8374 by September 30, 2005, and
ask to be added to SART DVD mailing list 996.
(Copies will be mailed in fall 2005.) When you
call, please reference NCJ 209842. After September
30, 2005, you can order this video
online at www.puborder.ncjrs.org. However,
a fee will apply and limited copies will be
available.
DNA video and discussion guide will highlight issues crucial to victims and their advocates
 OVC also provided funding to
Video/Action Fund to develop
“DNA Evidence: Critical Issues
for Those Who Work with Victims,”
a training video for victim
advocates, criminal justice
practitioners, and others about
critical issues for victims whose
cases involve DNA evidence. Through interviews
with victims, victim advocates, criminal
justice practitioners, and crime lab specialists,
the video touches on such issues as what DNA
is, its value as evidence, how it is used, challenges
to DNA evidence in the trial process, the
collection and preservation of evidence, victim
impact and victim notification. The video is in
the final stages of completion and will be
available with a discussion guide in 2006.
Check the OVC Web site at www.ovc.gov for
an announcement of its release.
 Clarifying the ways and reasons
children become missing
This OJJDP bulletin provides estimates on
the numbers and characteristics of two
groups seldom mentioned in the public discussion
of missing children: those who are
lost, injured, or stranded and those who are
missing for benign reasons (for instance, miscommunication
between parent and child).
The information in this bulletin is derived
from two components of the Second National
Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted,
Runaway, and Thrownaway Children.
National Estimates of Children Missing
Involuntarily or for Benign Reasons, 12 pages
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/206180.pdf
 Survey outlines latest trends in
Nation’s youth gang problem
Since 1996, OJJDP’s National Youth Gang
Center has conducted the National Youth
Gang Survey (NYGS), an annual survey of law
enforcement agencies across the United
States, regarding the presence and characteristics
of local gang problems.This fact sheet
summarizes NYGS findings from 2002 and
2003 by agency type, presenting the distribution
of annual maximum reported numbers
of gangs, gang members, and gang-related
homicides among agencies reporting gang
problems.
Highlights of the 2002–2003 National Youth
Gang Surveys, 2 pages
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/FS200501.pdf
 Taxi drivers are especially
vulnerable to robbery
Taxi drivers are at risk of robbery for a number
of reasons: They have contact with many
strangers; work alone, often in high-crime
neighborhoods; usually carry large amounts
of cash; and travel through isolated areas at
all times of the day or night. Specific data
have not been collected on robberies of taxi
drivers, so much of what is known about
these crimes is based on information
recorded on assaults and homicides by occupation.
Analysis of the problem by local police
departments is the first step in an
effective response. This guide discusses the
pros and cons of several robbery-prevention
strategies, including separating drivers from
passengers with screens or partitions; installing
security cameras, alarms, or automatic
vehicle locators; eliminating cash payments,
informing dispatchers of destinations; and
screening or otherwise monitoring passenger
behavior.
Robbery of Taxi Drivers, Problem-Specific
Guides Series, No. 34, 88 pages
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1465
 Offenders’ lives provide key to understanding their offending
Interviews of active offenders provide substantial
information about each element of
the crime triangle: victims, offenders, and location.
This information yields details about
crime patterns that may not be obvious
when examining one case at a time. This
guide attempts to bridge the gap between
police and researchers by underscoring both
groups’ common purposes, and points out
the problem-solving value gained from interviewing
active offenders.
Using Offender Interviews to Inform Police
Problem Solving, Problem-Solving Tools
Series, No. 3, 62 pages
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1464
 Guide gives police departments the tools to build on what others
have done
Problem-oriented policing focuses on specific
problems of crime and disorder to identify
and alter the factors that give rise to those
problems. Because many jurisdictions experience
similar crime problems, chances are excellent
that another police department has
already dealt with a specific problem. Departments
can save themselves time by finding
out which responses were successful and
which were not. This guide is designed to
take police officers and departments quickly
to the information they need and help them
evaluate and make the best use of it.
Researching a Problem, Problem-Solving
Tools Series, No. 2, 72 pages
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1463
*Be sure to check the NCJRS Web site (http://www.ncjrs.org) for announcements of forthcoming publications and resources.
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