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Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

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Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Justice Dept. Releases First-Ever Standards for Handling Rape Kits

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Wednesday, August 9, 2017   

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Justice Department has released a first-of-its-kind report detailing the best practices for handling sexual-assault kits. In Oregon, that number is in the thousands.

The report from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Justice Department, includes 35 recommendations, emphasizing victim-centered approaches to sexual-assault cases.

"Having the federal government say this is the best practice is very much going to bolster our campaign to end the backlog by 2020," said Ilse Knecht, director of policy and advocacy for the Joyful Heart Foundation, a group that offers support for sexual-assault victims and advocates for testing of every kit in the nation's backlog.

While the exact number of backlogged kits in Oregon is unknown, an Oregon State Police report found there were 4,900 untested kits in 2015.

A 2016 law requires an annual audit of untested kits. The law also ensures that sexual-assault survivors can get information on the status of their kits from law-enforcement agencies.

The report also emphasized a trauma-informed approach to handling these cases. Knecht said this approach includes the psychological reactions to assault, which can lead a survivor to remember events out of order or fail to remember more details. She said police sometimes dismiss a survivor's story because of this.

"Trauma-informed and victim-centered approaches to working with survivors will help survivors stay engaged in the criminal-justice system," she said, "and that, in turn, enhances and improves the criminal-justice process."

The report recommends mandatory testing of all kits and that states set up a tracking system so that survivors can monitor testing progress. While Oregon requires law-enforcement agencies to update survivors on the status of kits, it has not yet put a tracking system in place.

The report is online at ncjrs.gov.


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