Prosecutor Perspectives on the Role of Physical and Forensic Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases

• In Event: Community and Institutional Responses to Sexual Offending

Abstract

In recent years, there have been renewed efforts to understand the role and value of physical and forensic evidence in sexual assault cases as it relates to criminal justice outcomes. This presentation will present research on how prosecuting attorneys interpret and use physical and forensic evidence in sexual assault cases. This presentation will be based on interviews to be conducted the summer of 2014 with five to six prosecuting attorneys in an urban district attorney’s office, each discussing six specific cases he or she has worked on. Transcripts of interviews will be analyzed qualitatively by multiple members of the research team to identify both common themes across cases and prosecutors and significant exceptions to these themes. We will discuss prosecutors’ perspective on the value and role of physical and forensic evidence in sexual assault cases; how such evidence is weighed in relation to other case factors; whether SANE nurse involvement impacts prosecutor’s perceptions of the evidence and how it is used; what strategies prosecutor’s employ for using physical and forensic evidence in cases; and how they believe it relates to criminal justice outcomes.

Authors

• Theodore P. Cross, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Megan Alderden, Saint Xavier University

• Alex Wagner, Fisher College

• Lisa Sampson, Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security

• Brittany Peters, Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security

• Kaitlin Lounsbury, University of New Hampshire

• Laura Siller, Northeastern University