On Tuesday, March 30, 2010 from 11.00-12.30 p.m. (PST), the Campus Program will host a webinar on “A coordinated team response to assault survivors: understanding survivor behavior responses.”  Our guest speaker is Roger Canaff who will address the issue from a CCRT perspective.  To register for the webinar, please check the listserv for instructions.  If you have any questions, please contact your TA Coordinator.

Summary

Students who report a sexual assault are often viewed with skepticism.  Should a student decide to file charges, survivors of sexual violence often encounter many challenges on campus, as well as during the investigation/prosecution of a case.  One challenge survivors often experience occurs when their behaviors does not match what society expects from victims.  For instance, after being assaulted, a student may call their friend or take a shower instead of reporting the incident to law enforcement.  Such behaviors are perceived to be counterintuitive. For this reason, it is critical for law enforcement and judicial affairs to further enhance their understanding of survivor behavior and victimology in order to be more sensitive towards the survivor and to also be better equipped to engage in an investigation process that will ultimately lead to successful prosecution.

Speaker

Roger Canaff has lectured to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners nationwide on their role in the legal process, and has lectured to physicians and others in the medical field as well. He has trained nationally on issues related to juvenile crime, sexual assault prosecution, child abuse and related issues. In 2003, Roger joined the staff of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse at the American Prosecutors Research Institute in Alexandria, Virginia as a Senior Attorney. In 2005, he returned to active prosecution and relocated to New York City where he worked in the Child Abuse and Sex Unit of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.  Roger took a position as a Highly Qualified Expert in June 2009 and is working for the Department of the Army specializing in assisting military prosecutors in investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases within the armed forces.

Objectives

1. To understand the behavior of sexual violence survivors in order to enhance the law enforcement investigation and prosecution processes.
2. To learn tools that can be integrated into the work done by CCRT members.

Materials (available after the webinar)