Justice Denied: Low Submission Rates of Sexual Assault Kits and the Predicting Variables

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (17) ◽  
pp. 3547-3573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie L. Valentine ◽  
L. Kathleen Sekula ◽  
Lawrence J. Cook ◽  
Rebecca Campbell ◽  
Alison Colbert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
State Crime ◽  
Site Location ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Seek Health Care ◽  
Crime Laboratory

Following sexual assaults, victims are advised to seek health care services with forensic evidence collected and packaged in sexual assault kits (SAKs). This large ( N = 1,874), retrospective study examined rates of SAK submissions by law enforcement to the state crime laboratory for analysis from 2010 to 2013 at four sites in a Western state in the United States with established sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) programs. Variables of legal and extralegal characteristics in sexual assault cases were explored through generalized estimating equations (GEE) modeling to determine what factors statistically predicted SAK submissions. For submitted SAKs, the length of time between the dates of assault and dates of submission was categorized, and bivariate and multivariate analyses were calculated to discover legal and extralegal characteristics affecting time of submission. The study sites represented 40% of the state’s law enforcement agencies and 65% of the state’s population. Out of the 1,874 SAKs in the study, only 38.2% were submitted by law enforcement to the state crime laboratory for analysis. When SAK submissions were examined based on time between assaults and submission dates, 22.8% were submitted within a year of the assault and 15.4% were submitted more than a year after the assault following media and community pressure for law enforcement agencies to submit SAKs in storage. Significant variability of SAK submission rates and the time submitted from the assault dates were found between the sites. Site location was found to be the main determinant of whether or not SAKs were submitted. The lack of SAK submissions for analysis results in justice denied for victims and raises public safety concerns. The finding that the location in which the sexual assault occurred was the primary factor on SAK submissions represents an inequity of justice.

Racializing Crimmigration

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amada Armenta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Enforcement ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Local Law Enforcement ◽  
Local Jail ◽  
Colorblind Ideology ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Local Law

Deporting “criminal aliens” has become the highest priority in American immigration enforcement. Today, most deportations are achieved through the “crimmigration” system, a term that describes the convergence of the criminal justice and immigration enforcement systems. Emerging research argues that U.S. immigration enforcement is a “racial project” that subordinates and racializes Latino residents in the United States. This article examines the role of local law enforcement agencies in the racialization process by focusing on the techniques and logics that drive law enforcement practices across two agencies, I argue that local law enforcement agents racialize Latinos by punishing illegality through their daily, and sometimes mundane, practices. Investigatory traffic stops put Latinos at disproportionate risk of arrest and citation, and processing at the local jail subjects unauthorized immigrants to deportation. Although a variety of local actors sustain the deportation system, most do not see themselves as active participants in immigrant removal and they explain their behavior through a colorblind ideology. This colorblind ideology obscures and naturalizes how organizational practices and laws converge to systematically criminalize and punish Latinos in the United States.

Building Bridges Between Researchers and Police Practitioners in Small and Midsize Law Enforcement Agencies in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 104398622199988
Author(s):  
Janice Iwama ◽  
Jack McDevitt ◽  
Robert Bieniecki
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Police Agencies

Although partnerships between researchers and police practitioners have increased over the last few decades in some of the largest police agencies in the United States, very few small agencies have engaged in a partnership with a researcher. Of the 18,000 local police agencies in the United States, small agencies with less than 25 sworn officers make up about three quarters of all police agencies. To support future collaborations between researchers and smaller police agencies, like those in Douglas County, Kansas, this article identifies challenges that researchers can address and explores how these relationships can benefit small police agencies across the United States.

scholarly journals Enacting an Improved Response to Sexual Assault: A Criminal Justice Practitioner’s Guide

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Melton
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Violent Crimes ◽  
Serial Offenders

Sexual assault is a violent crime that traumatizes individual victims and endangers entire communities. Every victim of sexual assault deserves an opportunity for justice and access to the resources they need to recover from this trauma. In addition, many perpetrators of sexual assaults are serial offenders who also commit other violent crimes, including armed robberies, aggravated assaults, burglary, domestic violence, and homicides, against strangers and acquaintances. Criminal justice agencies have the power to create a strategic, sustainable plan for an improved response to sexual assault that aligns with current best practices and national recommendations. In this document, we define an “improved response” as an approach that supports effective investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases, holds perpetrators accountable, and promotes healing and recovery for victims of sexual assault. This guide will help prosecutor and law enforcement agencies create a process with milestones, goals, and suggested actions, all designed to support a successful and sustainable approach for addressing sexual assault cases. Improving the criminal justice system’s response to sexual assault ultimately improves public safety and promotes trust between criminal justice agencies and the communities they serve.

scholarly journals Methods of interaction of the state border service of Ukraine with other law enforcement authorities

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
I.I. Baidyuk
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Universal Method ◽  
Coordination Control ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Economic Methods ◽  
Forecasting Method

The article is devoted to defining the concept and methods of interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement a. The meaning of the concept of "methods" is revealed. It is proposed to understand the methods of interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement agencies as a set of tools used by these entities within the current legislation to organize and maintain relations between them to ensure border security, prevent smuggling, illegal migration and transnational crime. Features of such administrative methods of management as regulatory, administrative and normative are considered. It is noted that regulatory methods take place in the interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement authorities. It is determined that persuasion as a universal method of management in the interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement authorities is absent, and an example of the method of coercion is liability for non-compliance with acts of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Such organizational methods in interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement authorities as planning, forecasting, method of information support, method of decision making, methods of organizing the implementation of decisions and monitoring their implementation, methods of instructing and work with personnel are singled out. Emphasis is placed on economic methods in the interaction of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with other law enforcement authorities. The results of the survey show the problems in the use of methods of legal regulation, prohibitions, coercion, coordination, control in the management of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, which affect the effectiveness of its interaction with other law enforcement authorities and should be studied separately.

DIRECTIONS OF IMPROVEMENT OF MECHANISMS OF INFLUENCE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ON STATE REGULATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Zhukova ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Enforcement Activity ◽  
Regulation Of Law

The role and significance of the influence of civil society on the processes of state regulation of law enforcement activities are revealed. The key aspects of state regulation of law enforcement activity under the condition of active influence of civil society representatives on it are revealed. The main factors of the influence of civil society on the activity of law enforcement bodies, which play an important role in the processes of ensuring the proper functioning of the system of state regulation of law enforcement activities in Ukraine, are substantiated. It is substantiated that in order to effectively perform the tasks assigned to law enforcement agencies, these structures interact with representatives of the public sector. It is proved that interaction with civil society of the law enforcement system is an important aspect to increase the effectiveness of these bodies in ensuring the protection of human rights and freedoms, public order and security, the interests of society and the state, as well as combating crime. Conclusions are formed regarding the content of new approaches to the organization of law enforcement agencies' work with the population, public organizations and local self-government bodies in the field of law enforcement. The complex of the existing administrative measures for achievement of the maximum efficiency of functioning of system of the state regulation of law enforcement activity in a foreshortening of influence of representatives of civil society on it is considered. Current trends and priority areas for improving the mechanisms of civil society influence on state regulation of law enforcement, in particular, the administrative and legal direction on a partnership basis, are outlined.

Veto Power

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-194
Author(s):  
Noah Tsika
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Black Residents ◽  
White Supremacists

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, police censorship of motion pictures was a significant and always controversial index of the expansion of law enforcement agencies to include activities that many Americans deemed unbecoming of cops. As such, it offers considerable insight into contemporary debates over the scope of police power in the United States. Today’s arguments have deep roots, including in a practice that was far more prevalent—and far more contentious—than conventional histories allow. When it came to vetting motion pictures, the methods of municipal police departments varied widely. But they often illuminated broader problems: Detroit police officers who voted to ban anti-Nazi films were themselves outspoken white supremacists; Chicago cops who balked at cinema’s suggestions of eroticism were also, outside of departmental screening rooms, aggressively targeting sex workers; and Southern lawmen who sought to eliminate intimations of racial equality were known for their brutal treatment of Black residents. Police censorship of motion pictures took place not in a vacuum but within the ever-widening ambit of law enforcement, and it merits scrutiny as a measure of the authority, influence, and cultural identities of municipal cops.

Cloudy days ahead: Cross-border evidence collection and its impact on the rights of EU citizens

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-250
Author(s):  
Lawrence Siry
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Cloud Storage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Evidence Collection ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, the development of cloud storage and the ease of cross-border communication have rendered the area of evidence collection particularly difficult for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), courts and academics. Evidence related to a criminal act in one jurisdiction might be stored in a different jurisdiction. Often it is not even clear in which jurisdiction the relevant data are, and at times the data may be spread over multiple jurisdictions. The traditional rules related to cross-border evidence collection, the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) regimes, have proved to be out-dated, cumbersome and inefficient, as they were suited for a time when the seeking of cross-border evidence was more infrequent. In order to tackle this problem, the United States has enacted the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, which gives extraterritorial e-evidence collection powers to US courts. Simultaneously, the European Union (EU) has proposed similar sweeping changes which would allow for LEAs in Member States to preserve and collect cloud-based evidence outside of the MLAT system. This article critically evaluates these developments from the perspective of the impact on the rights of EU citizens.

scholarly journals The Militarization of Law Enforcement: Evidence from Latin America

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo A. Flores-Macías ◽  
Jessica Zarkin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Military Law ◽  
The Military

What are the political consequences of militarizing law enforcement? Across the world, law enforcement has become increasingly militarized over the last three decades, with civilian police operating more like armed forces and soldiers replacing civilian police in law enforcement tasks. Scholarly, policy, and journalistic attention has mostly focused on the first type, but has neglected the study of three main areas toward which we seek to contribute: 1) the constabularization of the military—i.e., when the armed forces take on the responsibilities of civilian law enforcement agencies, 2) the extent to which this process has taken place outside of the United States, and 3) its political consequences. Toward this end, we unpack the concept of militarized law enforcement, develop theoretical expectations about its political consequences, take stock of militarization in Latin America, and evaluate whether expectations have played out in the region. We show that the distinction between civilian and military law enforcement typical of democratic regimes has been severely blurred in the region. Further, we argue that the constabularization of the military has had important consequences for the quality of democracy in the region by undermining citizen security, human rights, police reform, and the legal order.

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