Enhancing the Choctaw Tribal Community's Coordinated Response to Sexual Assault

Through the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)-Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Program, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) provides support to enhance AI/AN communities to provide coordinated community victim-centered sexual assault responses to adult and child victims. The program's victim-centered approach is designed to help foster and promote the dignity, spiritual, mental, and physical health in victims of sexual assault. This program will focus on enhancing existing SANE-SART efforts in the development of three demonstration projects that will improve federal, state, local, and Tribal response to sexual assault victims in their communities. It is anticipated that this program will increase the capacity for communities and the criminal and Tribal justice systems to respond to sexual assault victims, and to foster in victims and communities a sense of fairness and satisfaction with the criminal justice system. Additionally, the improvements may increase victims and community members' engagement in the criminal justice process, which will ultimately result in more thorough investigations and more successful prosecutions. Improving victim satisfaction with the criminal justice system may encourage future community response consistent with the needs of victims, including the participation of advocates, spiritual and Tribal leaders, local and Tribal law. NCA/NCF