Jiu-jitsu is a Japanese martial art that does not depend on the use of size or strength to defeat an opponent. Instead, it employs a variety of tactical moves to prevail by turning the force of an attack against the attacker. Prosecutors in domestic violence cases have a similar art at their disposal to counter confrontation challenges in the common scenario where the offender has intimidated, tricked, manipulated, paid off, killed, or otherwise arranged for the victim to be absent from the trial, leaving the prosecution with only the victim’s out-of-court statements to prove the case.
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.
Rape Shield
We have developed three individual resources on rape shield, to include a survey of United States statutes, a collection of relevant case law, and a chart surveying the rules of admissibility across the country.
Annotated Bibliography of Witness Intimidation Resources
This annotated bibliography compiles legal research, social science research, assessment, and best practices and policies for addressing witness intimidation. The first section reviews legal literature that analyzes the legal foundations of witness intimidation, including Supreme Court decisions, statutes, and relevant case law. The second section contains social science research on victims’ experiences of intimidation, as well as implementation of laws and policies to address the problem. The third section summarizes evaluative reports on witness intimidation dynamics in particular communities. The final section, contains best practices and policies to be implemented based on the assessment and research foundations described above.
Responding to Stalking: A Guide for Prosecutors
Stalking affects 7.5 million people in the United States a year, with 15 percent of women and 6 percent of men being stalked in their lifetime. Stalking entails repeat victimization because it constitutes a series of acts rather than a single incident and it can cause sustained and repeated emotional distress. This guide is a resource for prosecutors in stalking cases. It provides an overview of stalking and suggests best practices for prosecuting offenders. It should be used as a guide for attorneys to support their own research and for problem-solving in prosecuting these types of cases.
And Then There Was One: A Recent Minnesota Supreme Court Decision Has Left Pennsylvania as the Only State That Disallows Expert Testimony to Explain Victim Behavior
On March 24, 2011 the Minnesota Supreme Court decided to permit expert testimony to explain common victim behavior in adult sexual assault cases. This article outlines the facts and the impact of the case. The author concludes that the prosecutors in the case executed a successful strategy that can serve as a template for how to introduce expert testimony in trials before courts that are hesitant or even hostile to the idea of admitting it.
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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Evading Justice: The Pervasive Nature of Witness Intimidation
Acts of witness intimidation range from the crude to the complex and, when successful, evade the purview of the justice system, which allows the criminal behavior to continue unchecked. The pervasive nature of these crimes is devastating to victims and to community confidence in the justice system’s ability to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable. Criminal justice professionals, community leaders, and researchers have declared witness intimidation a national concern and a challenge to the administration of justice. This article discusses how to recognize intimidation and reduce its impact on the criminal justice system through education, documentation and other preventive measures. The authors also offer effective investigation and prosecution strategies.
