Overview
The National Institute of Justice, through its Forensic Technology Center of Excellence hosted "Looking Ahead: The National Sexual Assault Policy Symposium" on September 8-9, 2016, in Washington D.C.
The panel highlighted the complexities of investigating sexual assault cases and promising practices for addressing a number of challenges such as re-opening “cold” sexual assault cases and responding to new evidence or CODIS hits in a victim-centered way. This panel also reviewed the role of support from agency leadership, the importance of investigating a sexual assault without DNA, value of non-DNA evidence and the importance of addressing bias in investigations.
The symposium focused on how the nation is moving forward and finding solutions to the complex issues that arise in sexual assault cases and in testing sexual assault evidence.
Moderator
- Julie A. Lecea | Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) Liaison to Criminal Investigation Command (CID)
Presenters
- Eleanor A. Odom | Special Victim Prosecutor Expert, US Army
- Travis Burrows | Supervisory Senior Resident Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
- Richard Bell | Special Investigations Division Chief, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office
Funding for this Forensic Technology Center of Excellence webinar has been provided by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this webinar are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Contact us at ForensicCOE@rti.org with any questions and subscribe to our newsletter for notifications.
