AEquitas Attorney Advisor Jonathan Kurland presented “Stalking, Technology, and Evidentiary Standards” in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to an audience of attorneys and law students.
Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance (ICDV)
AEquitas Attorney Advisor Teresa Garvey presented “The Absent Witness: Avoiding and Overcoming Confrontation Challenges,” “Making is Stick: Protecting the Record on Appeal” and “Civil, Meet Criminal: Coordinating with the Prosecution” in Boise, Idaho to an audience of dual sexual assault/domestic violence program staff and prosecutors.
Left Hand, Meet Right Hand: Coordinating the Response in Stalking Cases
SPARC Director Jennifer Landhuis, along with co-presenter Mark Kurkowski, delivered a series of presentations on stalking, domestic violence, safety planning, and sexual assault on behalf of the New Hampshire Department of Justice (NHDOJ) in both Lincoln and Boone, New Hampshire.
14th Annual Advanced New Mexico Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Conference
AEquitas Attorney Advisor John Wilkinson and consultant Kim Nash presented “Medical Evidence and Experts,” “Educating Judges and Juries,” “Expert Testimony” and “Prosecuting Cold Case” on behalf of the New Mexico Coalition of Programs in Albuquerque, New Mexico to an audience including but not limited to, dual sexual assault/domestic violence program staff, health professionals, law enforcement officers and mental health professionals.
How The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Is Helping Victims Of Workplace Sexual Violence
After the initial allegations against Harvey Weinstein surfaced in October 2017, the #MeToo movement surged. It was part of the catalyst for creating the Work-Related Sexual Violence Team at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in January 2018, according to Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo. The team of 15 sex crimes prosecutors and one social worker is led by Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Puzio.
As part of due process for related cases, the survivor is usually asked to testify in court which can, understandably, feel intimidating, invasive and emotionally draining. But there are protections in place to help survivors seek justice, according to Jennifer Gentile Long, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and CEO of Aequitas, an organization that aims to improve the quality of justice in violent crimes including sexual violence.
“It is part of the system to be challenged and to allow the defendant a fair process, but skilled prosecutors have ways to step in and defend against harassment and undue embarrassment and prevent questioning about irrelevant things to create a bias against the victim for who he or she is versus what happened,” says Long.
Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses: Part 3
This portion provides an overview of how trauma impacts victims of IMBs and discusses practical trauma-informed interviewing techniques that help us build rapport with victims, investigate crimes, and develop stronger victim narratives. The presenters discuss making appropriate charging decisions, litigating pretrial motions to protect victim privacy, establishing the elements of the charges with or without victim participation, and educating the jury through voir dire, expert testimony, and effective witness examinations.
Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses: Part 2
This portion provides practical investigative strategies to build successful prosecutions of the owners, operators, and accomplices of IMBs. The presenters discuss enhancing investigations through partnerships with civil and criminal allied investigative agencies and service providers. They also provide an analytical framework for developing investigative strategies designed to identify and preserve evidence supporting a wide range of charges that can be prosecuted with or without victim participation.
Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses: Part 1
IMBs are venues disguised as legitimate massage or bodywork businesses in which women are forced, coerced, and defrauded into performing countless sex acts with strangers on a daily basis. This portion of the three-part series provides an overview of the illicit massage business (IMB) organizational model, which typically exists within one of many nationwide networks. The presenters discuss how women are recruited, harbored, and exploited within those networks. They also explore the challenges facing law enforcement and prosecutors, demonstrating the need for strategies to build evidence-based cases that can ensure that offenders are held accountable for their wide-ranging criminal activity.
Human Trafficking and Toxicology
Human traffickers control their victims through force, fraud, and/or coercion. Coercion, specifically, can take many forms, including seeking out vulnerable victims facing substance abuse. In other cases, traffickers may introduce victims to drugs and alcohol to facilitate their crimes and establish additional control. Understanding basic toxicology better allows law enforcement, prosecutors, and medical professionals to recognize how drugs and alcohol affect a victim’s ability to disclose, participate in the criminal justice system, and recover from the trauma of trafficking.
This presentation will identify common dynamics in sex and labor trafficking and describe how drugs and alcohol are used to assert and maintain control over victims and perpetrate trafficking and trafficking related crimes. The presenter will discuss the importance of and strategies for collaborating with medical professionals to identify drug-facilitated human trafficking, provide much needed care, and educate other allied professionals about the effects of drug use in the context of trafficking dynamics
Drugs as Coercion: Human Trafficking and Toxicology
Human traffickers control their victims through force, fraud, and/or coercion. Coercion, specifically, can take many forms, including seeking out vulnerable victims facing substance abuse. In other cases, traffickers may introduce victims to drugs and alcohol to facilitate their crimes and establish additional control. Understanding basic toxicology better allows law enforcement, prosecutors, and medical professionals to recognize how drugs and alcohol affect a victims’ ability to disclose, participate in the criminal justice system, and recover from the trauma of trafficking.
This webinar recording will identify common dynamics in sex and labor trafficking and describe how drugs and alcohol are used to assert and maintain control over victims and perpetrate trafficking and trafficking-related crimes. The presenter discusses the importance of and strategies for collaborating with service providers and medical professionals to identify drug-facilitated human trafficking, provide much-needed care, and educate other allied professionals about the effects of drug use in the context of trafficking dynamics.
Allied justice system professionals including (but not limited to) prosecutors, law enforcement officers, community-based service providers, probation and parole officers, judges, etc. are encouraged to view the recording.
CLE Credits
This webinar recording should qualify prosecutors for one (1.0) hour of continuing legal education credits. Prosecutors are encouraged to contact their state bar association in reference to application requirements and related fees.
