This compilation provides an overview of U. S. State victim rights laws as related to the presence of victim advocates during forensic examinations.  Laws fall into one of two categories (1) laws that specifically relate to victims of sexual assault and (2) laws that provide the right to advocate presence for all victims.
 

This toolkit is a collection of resources that victim service professional s may use to formalize, expand on, or evaluate their interagency responses to sexual assault. The toolkit includes five main sections:

• Learn About SARTs briefly reviews the basics: definitions and statistics related to sexual assault, the common makeup of SARTs and the reasons behind setting them up, and a brief historical outline of SART development since the 1970s.
• Develop a SART lays out the steps involved in putting together your SART. You'll learn how to build your team; collect data about your jurisdiction to help you create a relevant victim response; develop a strategic plan outlining your goals, objectives, and protocol; determine communication standards for your team (e.g., ethical communication, confidentiality); hold effective meetings; monitor and evaluate your victim response; and sustain your SART. This section also includes detailed information about common SART members—describing their roles and responsibilities—and highlights several critical issues related to sexual assault that every SART should know.
• Put the Focus on Victims describes how victims may be feeling, approaches to responding to various victims, and ways to help victims heal.
• Follow Innovative Practiceshighlights SART programs from around the country. See what other jurisdictions are doing before setting up or revamping your SART. Programs cover the fields of advocacy, law enforcement, health care, prosecution, and forensics and deal with multidisciplinary issues and culturally specific practices.
• Find Tools includes sample resources for specific SART members and tools to use when developing your team and evaluating its activities. Find examples of surveys, forms, brochures, guidelines, legislation, memorandums of understanding, and other resources.

Esta hoja de datos presenta una breve descripción del enfoque de la intervención de la/el espectador en la prevención de la violencia sexual, los puntos clave de este tipo de intervención, resultados basados en evidencia respecto de la eficacia del enfoque y recursos clave para encontrar información adicional sobre este modelo. En inglés.