AEquitas: The Prosecutors' Resource on Violence Against Women

 

Since 2009, AEquitas has built and continues to develop partnerships with individuals and agencies representing prosecutors, advocates, law enforcement officers, judges, educators, researchers, medical and mental health professionals, forensic scientists, and other allied professionals to advance their mission of improving the quality of justice in sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and human trafficking cases by developing, evaluating, and refining prosecution practices that increase victim safety and offender accountability. 

 

AEquitas hosts several national training events, including: Institutes on the Prosecution of Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, and Human Trafficking; the Prosecution of Sexual Assault in P.L. 280 Jurisdictions; Prosecuting Domestic Violence Homicides; Overcoming the Consent Defense: Prosecuting Known Offenders; and Going Forward without the Victim: Evidence-Based Prosecution of Intimate Partner Violence. Live web-based training events and webinar recordings are also available. In addition, AEquitas' staff of former prosecutors are available to provide in-person and web-based training and technical assistance, upon request.

 

AEquitas is currently in the process of scheduling a National Institute on the Prosecution of Domestic Violence and a National Institute on the Prosecution of Sexual Violence between now and September 30, 2019. The Institutes are three-and-a-half-day events designed to challenge participants to reevaluate their approach to prosecuting domestic and sexual violence. The Institutes explore the complex issues faced by prosecutors in balancing offender accountability and the impact of criminal prosecution on victims. In addition to practical case evaluation and litigation skills, the curricula examine the benefits of developing a coordinated, victim-centered community response; explain common injuries and relevant medical evidence, and offer guidance on the use of medical experts; explore ethical issues confronted by prosecutors; address the development and improvement of culturally-specific victim services; and offer prosecutors the ability to redefine outcomes and the very nature of justice in domestic and sexual violence cases. The Institutes use hypothetical case problems, role-playing exercises, small group discussions, mini-lectures, and faculty demonstrations. Rather than merely attending a series of legal lectures, participants will examine their current attitudes and practices by employing active case evaluation, preparation, and trial skills to respond to domestic and sexual violence in the varied contexts in which the crimes occur. The highly interactive format enables prosecutors from different jurisdictions, with varied levels of experience, to learn from one another and engage in "real-life" scenarios that are readily transferable to their everyday work. Please note, these National Institutes are only open to attorneys currently prosecuting criminal cases. More detailed information will be available on their training page once dates and locations have been determined.

 

All AEquitas training events are tuition-free and scholarships may be available to help prosecutors and their offices offset the cost of travel-related expenses. Trauma-informed practices are incorporated throughout all AEquitas' work and they continually evaluate and refine their resources and curricula to respond to emerging issues and promote promising practices. The Institutes can also be customized and adapted to meet the needs of jurisdiction specific and multidisciplinary audiences. 

 

If you are interested in contracting with AEquitas to provide on-site or web-based training for prosecutors and allied professionals, please contact Chief Operating Officer Christina Supinski via  email.

                                                                                                 

Spectator Sports Safety and Security

 

College sports are increasingly popular in the U.S., not only on campus, but also regionally and nationally. For example, it's hard to find anyone who isn't familiar with March Madness, and this  news article reported that while the National Football League's ratings dropped in 2017 from the previous season, ratings grew for college football to more than 50 percent in several time slots. One recent survey suggests that more than 70 percent of respondents followed college basketball and almost 31 million reported attending a college sports event in 2017. For the 2013-14 academic year, the total number of student-athletes participating in the 23 sports that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sponsors reached an all-time high at 472,625.

 

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. reshaped many facets of life in America, including the approach to security planning and management. Prior to 9/11, sports and special event security planning and management primarily focused on traffic, parking, crowd management, and weather-related incidents. This has changed and the environment and threats surrounding sporting events continues to evolve. As a result, guidance on best practices should address emerging challenges, include new resources, and avoid the development of patterns that could result in a security or safety risk.

 

The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi hosts annual summits to discuss current safety and security issues, identify solutions, and propose future best practices through professional collaboration. Participants include representatives from event management, facilities operations law enforcement, emergency management, fire, emergency medical services, technology firms, and public safety agencies. The resulting best practice guidebooks are updated annually and designed to assist those responsible for safety and security at sporting events.

 

NCS4 recently updated their NCS4 Connect platform. NCS4 Connect uses interactive communities to provide a mechanism for leaders and other professionals in the spectator sports safety and security industry, including interscholastic athletics and after-school events, to create discussions, ask questions, and share ideas relevant to the industry. In the past, access to these communities was for paying members only, but NCS4 Connect Communities are now free to join. Once your account request has been submitted, a member of the NCS4 team will review and approve your account within 48 hours. Once approved, you can update your profile and explore the NCS4 communities. If you already have an NCS4 Connect account, there is no need to create a new account. 

 

One of the major security concerns for athletic facilities is access control and enhanced screening for event staff personnel. Louisiana State University (LSU) is the home of Tiger Stadium, which has an official seating capacity of over 100,000 making it the sixth largest stadium in the NCAA. In order to screen the roughly 2,500 event staffing personnel that enter the stadium during each home game, along with the upwards of 200 walk-up staff, LSU deployed the REDTAIL Secure Visitor Screening (SVS) Program with Instant Checks at Tiger Stadium. The REDTAIL SVS Program with Instant Checks is an onsite visitor check-in and automated screening platform that screens personnel against the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Crime Information Center data sources and provides results back within seconds. Further details on and statistics for this program can be found in the LSU case study (PDF).

 

For additional information on this topic, please view our free, closed captioned, on-demand webinar, Sports and Special Event Security Planning: Best Practices.

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