California Focuses On Sexual
Assault Education
California’s
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is sharpening its focus on
education and public outreach in sexual assault cases thanks to funds
provided by the Violence Against Women Act. California
inaugurated a course on sexual assault at the nationally recognized B.
E. Witkin Judicial College this June, marking the first year that a
course dedicated entirely to issues of sexual assault cases has been
offered at the college.
In the summer the
course was expanded to one day and offered to 50 experienced judicial
officers at the Continuing Judicial Studies Program (CJSP). The
intensive program was based in part on a national curriculum,
Understanding Sexual Violence: The Judicial Response to Stranger
and Non-stranger Rape and Sexual Assault, developed by the New
York-based National Judicial Education Program (NJEP). The
course included a discussion of the neurobiology of trauma and
characteristics of offenders. Course participants received
comprehensive materials including a compendium of California law on
sexual assault.
Later this year,
California will distribute to courts an information and resource
brochure on services for victims of sexual assault. The
brochure, designed for distribution in jury assembly rooms and other
public areas of the courthouse, will provide information to potential
jurors or others who may have been sexual assault victims and need
assistance. The AOC is working in partnership with the
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CAL CASA).
The California AOC
hopes to expand its sexual assault projects during the next year to
include additional statewide and regional judicial education programs;
a statewide policy forum to determine educational priorities and best
practices in sexual assault cases; and publication of a judges’
bench handbook on sexual assault.
About the Violence
Against Women Education Program (VAWEP)
VAWEP is an AOC
initiative to provide courts with information, educational materials,
and training on their role in responding to cases involving domestic
violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWEP is funded by the
California Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP)
with resources designated for courts from the federal Office on
Violence Against Women (OVW) STOP grant program.
Major project efforts
planned for 2003-2004 include:
-
A
training program on sexual assault for criminal court judges;
-
Courses
at the Continuing Judicial Studies Program Series;
-
Policy
forums relating to domestic violence and sexual assault cases;
-
Courses
at the 2004 B. E. Witkin Judicial College;
-
The
2004 Family Violence and the Courts Conference, which will invite
teams from every county in California;
-
Bench
guides on stalking, firearms restrictions, full faith and credit
requirements, and immigration/cultural issues;
-
Broadcast
series for court employees about domestic violence; and
-
Funding
to courts to support their efforts to respond more effectively to
domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking cases.
*For more
information, contact Bobbie Welling, VAWEP Project Director, AOC’s
Center for Families, Children & the Courts, 415-865-7822; E-mail: bobbie.welling@jud.ca.gov. For a fact sheet about the project, please
visit the following web site: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/cfcc/pdffiles/VAWEP.pdf.
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