Share Your Input - Take UCASA's Legislative Survey

UCASA is collecting information which will inform our legislative work during the upcoming session and we would greatly appreciate your input. Below is a link to a survey that is designed to solicit your feedback about UCASA's legislative priorities and activities. Please take a moment to give us your feedback. We request all surveys be completed by October 14th. As always, responses from a wide range of disciplines are highly valued.

This survey should take less than 15 minutes and asks for your input on changes in existing Utah State Law or Policy that you think UCASA should address. :UCASA legislative survey

VAWA will be Voted on by the House of Representatives TODAY 9/28!
The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 will be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote some time Wednesday. This critical legislation will reauthorize existing programs, which expire at the end of this month. All Members of Congress must hear from their constituents and vote yes on VAWA. Please call your Representatives immediately and educate them about the importance of the Violence Against Women Act!

Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) :contact
Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) :contact
Representative Rob Bishop (R-01) :contact

We also need your voices in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed VAWA on September 8, 2005 but has not yet scheduled a time for the full Senate to vote on the bill. The Senate must bring VAWA to the floor for a vote soon! Please call your Senators and ask them to bring the Violence Against Women Act to the floor for a vote!

Representative James D. Matheson (D-02) :contact
Representative Christopher Cannon (R-03) :contact

Sample Phone Script: “As one of your constituents, I am calling to urge you to vote for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA is essential if we are to keep women and children safe from violence and prevent future violence in our homes and communities. Please vote for the Violence Against Women Act (HR 3402) and help ensure that this critical legislation is strengthened and quickly reauthorized.”

Email script: "As one of your constituents, I am writing to urge you to vote for reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. It will be voted on on Wednesday, September 28. VAWA is essential if we are to keep women and children safe from violence and prevent future violence in our home and communities. Please vote for the Violence Against Women Act and help ensure that this critical legislation is strengthened and quickly reauthorized.”

Military Victims of Violence Confidentiality Act
The Military Victims of Confidentiality Act, introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) on September 20th with 15 cosponsors, will ensure greater protections for women in the military who are victims of violence. This bill will establish comprehensive confidentiality protocols to protect the rights of vicitims within military law. Under this bill, communications made to secure advice, counseling, treatment or assistance concerning a victim's mental, physical, or emotional state will remain confidential. Moreover, a victim will be able to refuse to disclose and prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communications. :H.R. 3837

Urge Utah's members of congress to become a cosponsor of the Military Victims of Violence Confidentiality Act. Currently, none of the cosponsors of this bill are from Utah. :talking points

Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) :contact
Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) :contact
Representative Rob Bishop (R-01) :contact
Representative James D. Matheson (D-02) :contact
Representative Christopher Cannon (R-03) :contact

House Passes DNA "Cold Hit" Provisions
The House of Representatives passed provisions that would provide federal grants to local prosecutors to help them prosecute cases stemming from "cold hit" DNA cases - cases where DNA on file matches evidence in a previously unsolved crime. These provisions were included in The Children's Safety Act of 2005, which passed the House in September on a 371-52 vote. It creates a five-year grant program to help prosecutors bring cold hit cases to court. Last year the President requested and Congress began funding a five-year, billion-dollar DNA Initiative to process old DNA samples from crime scenes and enter them into a matching database. However, none of the monies were earmarked to prosecute the criminals. As DNA samples are matched with cold cases, the workload for local prosecutors is expected to increase dramatically. That has already occurred in California due to the passage of Proposition 69 last November. Prop. 69 immediately required the state to collect DNA samples from all convicted felons for a statewide DNA database to solve crimes.

Additionally, the Children's Safety Act would:
• Require states to have a uniform, public access sex offender registration website • Create Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website to search for sex offender information in each community • Expand sex offenders to include juvenile sex offenders • Require states to notify each other when sex offender moves from one state to another • Expand sex offenses covered by registration and notification requirements to include military, tribal, foreign, sex crimes, and increases duration of registration requirements to protect the public • Expand community notification requirements to include active efforts to inform law enforcement agencies, schools, public housing, social service agencies and volunteer organizations in area where sex offender resides, works or attends school • Create new criminal penalty of mandatory minimum of 5 years to maximum of 20 years for sex offender who fails to comply with registration requirements • Prevent and deter violent crimes against children and sexual exploitation of children • Protect foster children from sexual abuse and exploitation • Increase criminal penalties against child sexual predators.

National SART Survey
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), through a grant awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, has developed the first-ever, national needs assessment survey to understand how communities utilize Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) concepts to respond to victims of sexual violence.The information collected through this online survey will help inform the development of a National SART Toolkit.

The survey is entirely voluntary and should take less than 30 minutes to complete. All responses will be confidential and aggregate survey results will be available at NSVRC in January 2006. :survey

Campus Consortium Conference Call
The campus consortium, an ad hoc committee of the Utah Sexual Violence Council, will be meeting on September 29th at 10am. This call will focus on campus prevention activities for the fall semester as well as 40-hour trainings and the importance of confidential communications on campus.

The committee was formed to promote and support intercollegiate communications and collaboration among campuses across the state as well as between campuses and local sexual violence service providers.

To participate, please call 801.521.5399 or toll-free 800.350.0593. :more information

A Call to Men: Ending Domestic Violence, Becoming Part of the Solution
In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, CDC is co-hosting this web seminar on working with men and boys to prevent intimate partner violence.
October 19th, noon-1:30pm
:register

Cultural and Religious Issues and How they Relate to Abuse
Conference Call Facilitators: Ellen Loy, Director of Outreach and Training, House of Ruth
October 6th, 10-11am

Mental health professionals and advocates working to treat and prevent family violence are invited to participate in this facilitated conference call. Please register by calling meredith soffrin at 800.343.2823. Participation is limited.

National Resource Directory & Handbook Preventing Child Sexual Abuse This directory brings together many of the currently available resources and initiatives related to child sexual abuse prevention, providing descriptions of organizations, programs, projects and a wide range of resources. It offers user-friendly icons to assist you in locating specific types of resources. This 264 page manual also features category indices, resource bibliographies, and highlights related research and key stakeholders. :directory

Violence Prevention Alliance: Building Global Commitment for Violence Prevention Just published by the World Health Organization, this policy paper sets out the conceptual framework, structure and goals that guide the Violence Prevention Alliance, of which CDC is a member. The paper is divided into two sections: Introducing the Violence Prevention Alliance, and Preventing violence before it occurs. The first section presents the basics of the Alliance, including the reasons behind its creation, the contribution of the health sector, and its scope, goals and working methods. The second section describes the global magnitude of interpersonal violence, discusses its known causes, risk factors and consequences, and presents theoretical tools to organize our understanding of interpersonal violence. :publication

Advocacy for Sexual Violence Victims
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, sexual victimization of evacuees during the evacuation process has been of particular concern. Many of area’s services and programs, that would otherwise have been available to sexual assault victims, are now closed or devastated by the disaster. In a cooperative effort to offer relief to these victims, national organizations working to end sexual violence have joined forces, coordinating their support and assistance in Gulf Coast states affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as to the neighboring states accepting large numbers of evacuees.

Advocates working in the devastated areas have requested assistance in addressing issues related to: the need for courtesy reports for rapes that occurred in other jurisdictions; coordination among advocates, law enforcement and prosecution; and the development of a surveillance mechanism to track sexual assaults. This coordinated effort to provide technical assistance is part of a larger joint initiative of national anti-sexual violence organizations, known as the Relief Fund for Sexual Assault Victims. :more information

The following is a compilation of interesting and relevant documents:

• Responding to the Needs of Hurricane Katrina Victims Who Have Been Sexually Assaulted, a letter from Joanne Archambault, Executive Director of EVAW International, outlining guidelines for advocates and law enforcement officers responding to victims who have been sexually assaulted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. :letter

• The Need for Courtesy Reports, a document from EVAW International providing guidance for police officers conducting courtesy reports of sexual assaults occurring outside their jurisdiction. :document

• Investigating Sexual Assaults Model Policy, the first national model policy on investigating sexual assaults for law enforcement, developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. :model policy

• Sexual Assault Statutes in the United States, a compilation of sexual assault statutes throughout the United States developed by the National Crime Victim Law Institute. :statutes

If you would like to be removed from this list, please send an email to info@ucasa.org

october is domestic violence awareness month

utah sexual violence council
department of health
288 north 1460 west, rm 125
salt lake city, utah
sept. meeting postponed

sexual assault nurse examiner training
salt lake city, utah
october 3rd-7th
tuition: $225
ceu's: 40 hours
:more information :register

the faces of sexuality and violence: 2nd annual conference on sexual violence in utah
salt lake city, utah
:information and registration
:call for presenters

rape recovery center
salt lake city, utah
september 27th and 29th, 5:30-9:30pm, october 1st and 8th, 9am-6pm, october 11th and 13th, 5:30-9:30pm, october 15th, 9am-6pm
: this is a no-cost training focusing on the needs of racial and ethnic minorities.
:more information :register

gentleironhawk shelter
blanding, utah
october 3rd-7th, 8am-5pm
:more information :register

vernal victim advocacy program
vernal, utah
october 20th, 21st, 24th-26th, 8am-5pm
:more information :register

rape recovery center
salt lake city, utah
january 10th, 12th, 17th, 19th, 24th and 26th, 5:30-9:30pm, january 14 and 21st, 9am-6pm
:more information :register

ucasa trainings meet the continuing education requirements for social work.

national conference on sexual violence prevention and intervention
pittsburgh, pennsylvania
september 28th-30th
:conference information

SWAVO victim advocates quarterly training
cedar city, utah
september 29th
:training information

18th annual conference on child abuse and family violence
salt lake city, utah
october 3rd-5th
:conference information