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Understanding Anogenital Injury in Adult Sexual Assault Cases

Anogenital injury is often seen as the ultimate evidence in sexual assault cases. However, the reality is that anogenital injury evidence has significant limitations. Specifically, in the vast majority of cases we are limited in our ability to distinguish between injuries resulting from a sexual assault and those sustained during consensual sexual activity. This article discusses how these points may not be well understood by legal practitioners and clinicians alike, resulting in a portrayal of anogenital injury as having clear and unambiguous significance. Understanding the emerging research on consensual sexual activity injury can therefore help us provide more accurate information to attorneys, judges, and juries in adult sexual assault cases.

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Supreme Court Continues to Expand the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause: Bullcoming v. New Mexico

This article provides an overview of Bullcoming v. New Mexico, a case holding that the Confrontation Clause prohibits the prosecution from introducing a forensic laboratory report through the testimony of an analyst who did not personally perform or observe the testing. The authors discuss the impact of the case on domestic violence prosecutions to the extent that it expands defendants’ rights under the Confrontation Clause in the area of required live testimony and appears to limit the prosecution’s ability to present physical evidence when laboratory analysis is involved.

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Benefits of a Coordinated Community Response to Sexual Violence

When medical, legal, and victim advocacy systems work together, they provide better, more effective services to victims. This article outlines the importance of multidisciplinary responses as a way to help survivors understand the breadth of available community resources and services. The authors also demonstrate how coordinated responses to sexual violence result in holding offenders accountable while protecting victims and communities.

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The Benefits of Specialized Prosecution Units in Domestic and Sexual Violence Cases

Domestic violence victims not participating in the prosecution of their abusers can be misunderstood as a lack of interest or a of credibility. In adult sexual assault cases, offenders often attempt to manipulate the system into sympathizing with them and blaming the victim. In the light of these challenges and In an effort to improve the response to domestic and sexual violence, many prosecutors’ offices around the country have created specialized units dedicated to prosecuting these crimes. These units provide prosecutors with concentrated trial experience, focused training, and the opportunity to work closely with law enforcement and community partners. This approach can lead to an improved experience for the victim as well as for police, prosecutors, and community partners. This article explains how prosecutors with strong experience working on sexual and domestic violence cases are skilled at focusing on the offender and exposing his attempts to manipulate the system.

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Supreme Court Clarifies the “Ongoing Emergency” in Michigan v. Bryant

This article provides an overview of Michigan v. Bryant, a case involving the admissibility of a dying victim’s statements to responding police in view of the Sixth Amendment right to confrontation. The Court held that the statements were made to meet an ongoing emergency and were therefore nontestimonial, making them admissible under the principles of Crawford v. Washington. The authors conclude that Bryant gives criminal justice practitioners expanded guidance on what constitutes an ongoing emergency, which enhances the prosecution’s ability to prove a case when the victim is not available to testify.

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Stalking: Effective Strategies for Prosecutors

Stalking affects 6.6 million people in the United States each year and every day, in courtrooms throughout the country, stalking victims recount the fear and distress they have experienced as a result of this crime. Stalkers create and exploit vulnerabilities in their victims, relying on technology and manipulation of the justice system to conceal their crimes and cast doubt on their victim’s credibility. This article provides an overview of stalking and the modern technology stalkers use. The article emphasizes the importance of using a collaborative approach between law enforcement, victim advocates and prosecutors to assist victims and hold offenders accountable.

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Making It Stick: Protecting the Record for Appeal

Having a sexual assault, domestic violence, or human trafficking case reversed on appeal can result in a re-trial with stale evidence, reluctant witnesses, and a victim who is forced to relive the case when she is finally beginning to heal. Though the appellate process is unavoidable, a prosecutor can bring a measure of finality to the criminal justice process by carefully building a strong trial court record that supports the conviction and the sentence imposed and withstands appellate challenges. This article discusses the proper creation and protection of the record during all phases of a criminal case, focusing on investigation, charging, plea agreements, trial preparation and strategy, summation, and sentencing. It addresses pretrial motions, recommends the use of trial briefs on anticipated trial problems, and explains how strategic charging decisions can result in admission of evidence that might otherwise be excluded.

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Absence of Anogenital Injury in the Adolescent Adult Female Sexual Assault Patient

Rates of sexual assault injury vary widely in published reports and may be impacted by a variety of issues, including the types of techniques used to assess the patient and the amount of time between the assault and the exam. This article discusses how documentation from sexual assault medical-forensic examinations often notes that no injury was found to the female genitalia or anus. The absence of anogenital injury does not mean that a sexual assault didn’t occur. Anticipating the circumstances when injury will be identified is a challenge.

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Prosecuting Intimate Partner Violence and Animal Cruelty

While control of the victim is the ultimate goal of perpetrators of intimate partner violence, victims themselves are not the only targets of these tactics. Abusers may also threaten and commit acts of violence against the victim’s children, family members, and even their pets. This article discusses strategies for protecting victims of abuse and their pets and holding offenders accountable for their actions. The author encourages prosecutors and allied professionals to work together in a coordinated fashion to better identify, investigate, and prosecute acts of animal cruelty. A coordinated community response to co-occurring animal abuse and domestic violence, together with the effective use of strategies to permit successful prosecution in the absence of active participation by the victim, will promote the safety and well-being of victims and their pets while holding the offender accountable for the abuse of all victims in the household.

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Routine Strip-Searches Upheld for Intake into Jail’s General Population

In Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Court held that correctional institutions may conduct routine strip-searches of all detainees upon admittance to the general population of the institution, even those arrested for the most minor offenses. The decision also concluded that such searches do not violate the Fourth Amendment. However, the Court’s decision did not address the question of whether such searches would be constitutionally justifiable without reasonable suspicion if the detainee were not to be admitted to general population, leaving open the possibility of limitations on such searches where alternatives to placement in the general population exist. This article reviews the facts of the case and analyzes the Court’s opinion. It highlights the need for clear legislative or regulatory guidance delineating the circumstances under which strip-searches may be conducted. The article emphasizes the need for a solution that will provide institutional security crucial to the safety of all inmates and staff, while minimizing the need to conduct searches that may traumatize detainees.

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