Two Cities Develop Guidance for Notifying Victims About SAK Testing

Multidisciplinary teams in Detroit and Houston developed protocols for notifying victims in cases where the sexual assault kit had not previously been - but was now being - tested for DNA evidence. In this National Institute of Justice-supported research project, the teams worked to ensure that a victim-centered, trauma-informed approach was used to minimize re-traumatization. For this brochure, NIJ partnered with the Office for Victims of Crime to share the principles that guided these two jurisdictions as they notified victims after a large number of previously untested sexual assault kits were tested. To read the brochure, go to https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249153.pdf.