Washington, DC
United States
~ Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Remarks as prepared for delivery
Good morning. I’m
pleased to be here today with three outstanding colleagues: Vanita Gupta, head
of the Civil Rights Division; Bea Hanson, head of the Office on Violence
Against Women; and Director [Ron] Davis of our Office of Community Oriented
Policing Services. It’s a privilege to
join this distinguished group of dedicated law enforcement officers, passionate
advocates and engaged community leaders for this vital discussion about how the
Department of Justice can help our state, local and tribal partners more
effectively combat the scourge of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Sexual and domestic violence is a heinous crime, inflicting
physical and emotional trauma that can linger for years, with grave
consequences for survivors and their loved ones; for neighborhoods and
communities and for our country as a whole.
And while the brunt of sexual and domestic violence is borne
disproportionately by women and LGBT individuals, make no mistake: it is an
affront to us all, threatening the integrity of our communities and violating
the dignity of our fellow citizens. The
Department of Justice is committed to doing everything it can to help prevent,
investigate and prosecute these horrendous crimes – including working to ensure
that our greatest partners in this effort, the state and local law enforcement
officers on whom we all rely, have the tools, training and resources they need
to fairly and effectively address allegations of sexual assault and domestic
violence.
As part of that ongoing effort – and in response to requests
for assistance from many of our law enforcement partners – I am pleased to
announce a new Justice Department guidance designed to help state, local and
tribal agencies eliminate gender bias from their policing practices. Such bias – whether implicit or explicit –
can severely undermine the ability of law enforcement to keep survivors safe
and to hold offenders accountable. For
instance, false assumptions about alcohol use, the physical strength of a
victim’s partner or a victim’s sexual orientation can lead police to make
judgments about the truthfulness of the survivor’s account or the severity of
the assault that are simply wrong. And
when bias interferes with a law enforcement response, justice can be delayed
and victims can suffer.
This new guidance was prepared in consultation with law
enforcement organizations to best address their needs and with advocates who do
vital work in this area and it is designed to help combat bias in a number of
important ways. It contains guidelines
for recognizing and addressing stereotypes and assumptions; interview
techniques that encourage victims to share critical information; and
recommendations for gathering and using crime reporting statistics to inform
evidence-based and data-driven strategies.
Taken together, this document offers a blueprint that law enforcement
can follow as they develop victim-centered and trauma-informed approaches to
handling cases of sexual assault and domestic violence.
We know that this approach can work – because we have seen
its impact before. In Missoula, Montana,
for example, after a 2013 Justice Department investigation found that several
local entities were failing to meet their legal responsibilities in responding
to sexual assault complaints, we reached four reform agreements geared towards
changing the community’s collective practices and policies. Thanks in large part to the extraordinary
cooperation of the Missoula Police Department, Missoula has since made
tremendous strides, providing more comprehensive victims’ services, promoting
trust among members of the community and demonstrating the real and lasting
progress that we can make together.
The guidance we are announcing today is an important
addition to a wide array of steps the Justice Department is taking to assist
our state, local and tribal partners on issues of domestic and sexual
violence. Through our National Institute
of Justice, we are helping law enforcement better understand and address sexual
violence with funding, research and data.
Our Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) provides grants and technical
assistance aimed at strengthening the way we handle these cases – in fact, just
today, OVW announced seven pilot jurisdictions that will receive funds and
technical assistance through the Sexual Assault Justice Initiative, which is
designed to bolster the justice system’s response to sexual violence at the
state and local level. And this past
September, I joined Vice President [Joe] Biden to announce that our Bureau of
Justice Assistance would be offering $41 million in grants to 20 jurisdictions
to help them eliminate or reduce backlogs in untested sexual assault kits.
These are important initiatives – but we still have a great
deal more to do. And I want you to know
that, in all our efforts, the Justice Department will remain committed to
working alongside professionals like the ones assembled here today: from the
law enforcement officers who are the first to field complaints and investigate
crimes; to the service providers working tirelessly to help survivors heal; to
the public officials tasked with creating stronger and safer
neighborhoods. You know your communities
best and the Department of Justice relies on you to tell us what challenges you
face, what trends you encounter, and what assistance you need. We stand ready to offer that assistance, so
that together, we can ensure that survivors get the support they need and that
justice is faithfully served.
Thank you for contributing your energy and your expertise to
that important mission. Thank you for
your help, your passion and your support.
I look forward to continuing our work together in the days and months
ahead.
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