Sexual Assault Response Team Toolkit
Our updated Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Toolkit is designed to support SARTs in all aspects of their work.
Sexual Assault Response Teams
Sexual violence can affect many aspects of a survivor's life, including safety and health, family and work situations, and finances. These challenges often lead to perplexing personal and legal questions. To receive basic assistance, victims often must navigate a maze of governmental and community agencies.
Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) help survivors through the maze of community services available to them, and uses the experiences of survivors to improve those services.
National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach
In August of 2017, the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a report on National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach. In 2013, the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Report Act (SAFER Act) was passed into law amending the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to provide funds for grants to be administered to laboratories to address the critical need of eliminating the backlog of sexual assault kits, the law requires an establishment of protocols and practices.
SANE Program Development and Operation Guide
The purpose of the SANE Program Development and Operation Guide (Guide) is to provide a blueprint for nurses and communities that would like to start a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program. For communities with existing SANE programs, the Guide serves as a resource to help expand or enhance services provided to the community. This Guide is designed to both complement and integrate resources that already exist.
Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
The guidance, through a series of detailed case examples, advises law enforcement agencies to incorporate the following principles into clear policies, comprehensive training and effective supervision protocols:
Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Functioning and Effectiveness: Findings from the National SART Project
This practitioner focused report of findings from a national research project on Sexual Assault Response Team functioning and effectiveness.
The full version of the technical research report to the National Institute of Justice is available online.
Scientific publications of the data in peer-reviewed journals with full methodological details are also available.
Publish Date
May 2015
The Resource Newsletter of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center: Fall/Winter 2014
The 2014 Fall & Winter edition of The Resource celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.
How to Implement an Institution Based Sexual Assault Response Team (SART)
This document, written by Hallie Martynuik, provides infomation on steps to created an institution based SART as well as lessons learned.
Publish Date
2012
Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault
This guide provides information that will help in responding to transgender survivors of sexual assault in a way that is helpful, informed, and supportive.
Access the guide.
Publish Date
2014
Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Implementation and Collaborative Process: What works best for the criminal justice system?
This study examined the structure and functioning of U.S. SARTs, patterns of SART implementation and how these patterns relate to SARTs perceived effectiveness at improving victim and legal outcomes.
Publish Date
September 2013