Original Release Date: April 8, 2022
In episode two of our 2022 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Julie L. Valentine, a Researcher, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), and the Associate Dean of Brigham Young University’s College of Nursing, to discuss sexual assault cases involving strangulation and dating apps.
While working as a sexual assault nurse examiner, Dr. Valentine and colleagues noticed an increase in survivors reporting violent sexual assaults that occurred after meeting someone through a dating app. They also observed that these violent sexual assaults showed higher rates of strangulation, a trend that was supported by one of her recent research studies. Listen in as Dr. Valentine discusses her current research on sexual assault and dating apps, legislative implications, and the prevalence of strangulation in sexual assault cases.
This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].
Some content in this podcast may be considered sensitive and may evoke emotional responses, or may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
View or download the episode transcript here:
Transcript
Related Resources
- Tedx Talks: Do dating apps enable sexual predators? | Julie Valentine | TEDxBYU
- Presentation: Assessment of Sexual Assault Kit Evidence Selection Leading to Development of SAK Evidence Machine-Learning Model | Julie Valentine | 2022 NIJ Forensic Science R&D Symposium (Session III - Forensic Biology/DNA, Part 2)
- Journal Article: Mental Illness as a Vulnerability for Sexual Assault: A Retrospective Study of 7,455 Sexual Assault Forensic Medical Examinations | Miles et al. | Journal of Forensic Nursing
Guest Biography
Dr. Julie L. Valentine is an Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Brigham Young University College of Nursing and certified sexual assault nurse examiner with Wasatch Forensic Nurses. Her research focus areas are sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and criminal justice system response to sexual violence. Dr. Valentine focuses on collaborative research studies uniting disciplines in sexual assault case reform to benefit victims and case processing. She developed a growing data set of ~8,000 sexual assault cases tracking information from evidence collection through DNA analysis–the largest database of its kind. Findings from this database have informed state and national policies and interdisciplinary practices. Dr. Valentine is very active in using her expertise and research to inform legislative policy. Dr. Valentine was appointed to the National Institute of Justice Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act Working Group in the development of national best practice policies in sexual assault cases, National Best Practices in Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2017). Dr. Valentine is primary author of three awarded federal grants since 2015 totaling 3.45 million dollars. Dr. Valentine has served in a variety of roles within the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), from Utah Chapter President to Director-At-Large for International Board of Directors (2020 to present). Additionally, Dr. Valentine was primary author of a middle-range forensic nursing theory, the Constructed Theory of Forensic Nursing Care to serve as an international framework for forensic nursing education, practice and research. Dr. Valentine was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in 2020.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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