ANATOMY of a RAPE CASE : What Really Happens in a Rape Investigation?

“ANATOMY OF A RAPE CASE”: What Really Happens in a Rape Investigation?

SPEAKERS:

Scott Berkowitz,President and Founder of RAINN. RAINN created the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE), which has helped more than 1.2 million people since 1994, and the new Online Hotline, the first secure web-based crisis hotline, providing live and anonymous support. Under Berkowitz's leadership, RAINN has become America's largest anti-sexual assault organization and was selected as one of "America's 100 Best Charities" by Worth magazine. RAINN was also chosen as one of the 10 best charities in America by Marie Claire magazine, and is rated four stars, the highest rating, by watchdog CharityNavigator.org.Previously, Berkowitz worked for seven years for Campaigns & Elections magazine, serving the last four years as publisher and frequently a spokesman on television, radio and in print. Berkowitz holds a B.A. from HampshireCollege in Amherst, Mass.

Jeffrey Sedgwick was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics on January 30, 2006 and confirmed by the United States Senate on March 31, 2006. He previously served as Deputy Director of the Bureau in the Reagan Administration. In his academic career, Mr. Sedgwick has taught and written on a variety of aspects of American Government including public finance, policy analysis and evaluation, criminal justice policy, and executive leadership. He is the author of Law Enforcement Planning: The Limits of an Economic Approach and Deterring Criminals: Policymaking and the American Political Tradition. He has directed or participated in a wide variety of international programs in the past decade including lecturing or teaching in countries as diverse as Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belgium, Germany and Trinidad/Tobago. Mr. Sedgwick earned his A.B. from KenyonCollege (1973) and his M.A.P.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia (1975 and 1978 respectively).

Joye Frost began her career in the victim assistance field as a Child Protective Services caseworker in South Texas and has worked in the victim assistance, healthcare, and disability advocacy fields for over thirty years in the U.S. and Europe. She has worked at the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) with the U.S. Department of Justice since 1997. She currently serves as the Director of the Program Development and Dissemination Division, which develops and administers a wide range of discretionary grant funded projects aimed at improving the nation’s response to crime victims. These projects provide training, technical assistance and other resources to address ongoing and emerging issues in the crime victims’ field. She has been instrumental in the development and expansion of OVC’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) and Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Training and Technical Assistance Project and has spearheaded a number of OVC initiatives focused on identifying and serving victims of crime with disabilities. She serves as OVC’s lead in implementing the annual observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), including the dissemination of a NCVRW Resource Kit to the field and an awards ceremony and candlelight observance in Washington, D.C. involving the Attorney General.

Amanda Sandberg is currently an undergraduate student at GeorgetownUniversity with a double major in Sociology and Gender & Women's Studies. In eighth grade, she survived an armed kidnapping that involved beating and repeated sexual assault. Law enforcement officials were never able to find the criminal and closed the case. Three years later, amidst her high school career, she received a phone call notifying her that her case was reopened because of a cold hit DNA match. After trial delays and proceedings, the criminal received a sentence of 37 years in prison. The sentencing day was the mark for Amanda to become active surrounding rape awareness. She serves as the current Co-chair of Take Back the Night at Georgetown, representative on the Gender & Women's Studies Steering Committee, representative on the Georgetown University Sexual Assault Working Group, and speaks within RAINN's Speakers' Bureau.

Evelyn Fortier serves as RAINN's Vice President of Public Policy after working for more than 10 years on Capitol Hill. At RAINN, Evelyn oversees the Public Policy Department. While on Capitol Hill, Evelyn served as Counsel or Legislative Assistant to several U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, as a Senate Legislative Director, and as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's staff. Evelyn has considerable knowledge of crime policy, having authored several successful crime bills for former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine during Evelyn's tenure with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney by training, Evelyn also has experience in defending complex litigation; she practiced for several years with large law firms. Evelyn earned her B.A. in government, magna cum laude, from HarvardUniversity and her law degree from the University of Virginia.

Smita Satiani serves as RAINN’s Public Policy Specialist where she provides support to RAINN’s Policy Department. Prior to RAINN, Smita served as a Field Organizer during the 2006 mid-term elections, which focused on over 50 congressional races throughout the nation. She has held numerous internships in Washington, D.C. with women’s advocacy organizations, a Member of Congress, and is a certified sexual assault advocate with the State of California. Smita graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Criminology/Law and minors in Political Science and Women’s Studies, and has also studied at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

Kim Day, RN, CFN, FNE, SANE-A, is a registered nurse with over 28 years of critical care/emergency department experience. Ms. Day became a SANE in 1998 and continues to serve as a SANE at her local hospital, where she helped to launch a SANE program. Currently, Ms. Day serves as the Sexual Assault Forensic Nurse Examiner Technical Assistance Coordinator (SAFE TA Coordinator) with the International Association of Forensic Nurses, providing technical assistance to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and SART team members using the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations of adults and adolescents. Ms. Day has also served as leader of her local SART team and is a national consultant on forensic examination issues.

Pete Maronebegan his forensic career at the Allegheny County Crime Laboratory in 1971 and remained in Pittsburgh until 1978 when he accepted a position with the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science. In 1998 he became the Central Laboratory Director with the Division. On February 1, 2007 he was appointed Director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. He is a member of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD), American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists, Forensic Science Society, and the International Association for Chemical Testing. He has also served on the ASCLD DNA Credential Review Committee and as the chair of the undergraduate curriculum committee of the Technical Working Group for Forensic Science Training and Education (TWGED), is a past chair of ASCLD-LAB (Laboratory Accreditation Board). He is a member of the Forensic Education Program Accreditation Commission (FEPAC) for the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community. He is currently Chair of the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations (CFSO).