Efforts to prevent climate change. At a Senate Hearing loog into Sexual Assaults on College Campuses, Committee Members heard from officials in charge of on Campus Security and advocates for Sexual Assault victims. The hearing will please come to order, let me welcome senator schumer and senator grassley and senator mccaskell. We will be joininged shortly by senator jill brand as well to make some brief remarks and senator graham is expected to join us, hes the Ranking Member on this committee. Senators mccaskell and gill brand have worked tirelessly to and in our military. Senator mccaskell and senator helder are the lead cosponsors and worked very, very hard to develop with the senators that makes comprehensive changes in the area of campus Sexual Assault. I would like to note as well of commander leahy, through this committee and into law. As you know, it requires colleges to be more transparent about Sexual Assaults and other offices committed on campus. In my home state, attorney general peter kill martin, and Rhode Islands universities are working with me on developing best practices and advising me in these legislative efforts and i want to express my appreciation to my very robust finally i would like to thank all of our Witnesses Today for joining us. I know that you workday in and day out to help survivors who are seeking profiles and justice. Campus assault is not a new phenomenon, but the last few years has shed light on just how pervasive it has become. Oil has rightly become a pry i dont recall for University Board rooms, for Police Departments, even the white house, for its dedicated task force. Innovations in the private sector include products to prevent sir repetitious. Law enforcement done right makes sure forensic evidence is properly collected and preserved. It empowers the victim, it informs her of her continuing power through the stages of investigation and prosecution. It brings professionalism in the place of amateur university investigations. It eludes the built in conflict of interest in a university that wants the Sexual Assault problem minimized or hushed and it sends an important societal signal when after a rape, the crime scene has police tape up and evidence vans and officers taking statements, a signal that what happened was serious. At its best, Law Enforcement response is victim centered and well coordinated with both medical, Mental Health and advocacy professionals. When a rape victim is steered away from Law Enforcement, based on uninformed choices about proceeding, or because the relationship between the university and Law Enforcement is so weak that contacting Law Enforcement is a step into a dark unknown, and the victim later loses the chance for justice, she has been victimized all over again. The student has the right to know that delays in opening an investigation and collecting evidence could mean the disappearance of evidence all together and could open up devastating questioning by a future defense attorney. Until were willing to put more information and control right away in the hands of victims, they simply wont trust the victim enough to report Sexual Assaults in the first place, we know this sadly from experience. Until we find a uninformed fear and uncertainty will remain a krip mg barrier. When theres no Law Enforcement response at all, that silence is deafening, and sechbds the message that add in the new evidence that most college Sexual Assaults are committed by men who are serial offenders and thus a threat to Public Safety. That should make it an even higher priority for us as raw makers, law enforcers and School Administrators to create systems that will increase reporting, root out those who will commit such acts and see that they are brought to justice. If we dont increase and improve the role of the criminal Justice System in these cases, victims l pay the price. I say improve because equal to early Law Enforcement in this crime is the quality of the Law Enforcement response. As i said, anything can be done badly, but there are best practices out there, and i look forward to hearing from todays witnesses about some of those best practices. And about how we as federal legislators might be able to advance the goals of Public Safety and dignity and justice for survivors. As we begin this hearing, let me thank my Ranking Member for his courtesy during our time when i have been chairman and i look forward to continuing the bipartisan spirit when chairman graham takes over in the next congress. Senator grassley do you have any opening remarks . I have an interest in this issue as im a cosponsor of the bill, i dont understand the sense sixths that universities have about a crime of rape off campus or a crime of rape on campus ought to be treated the same way. I hope that theres a real effort in the next congress to work on this bill very seriously. And move it along. And i appreciate the remarks of the chairman, they would be things that i would associate myself with at this point, but i think that its high time to make sure that a crime is a crime wherever its committed and treated the same way. And when its treated universally the same way, well have les rape on campuses. I think its significant that the incoming chairman make that statement. I turn now to senator schumer. Ill be brief, u i want to thank you mr. Chairman for holding this hearing, my colleagues for being here, i want to thank two of my dear friends on the senate for making the charge here. I want to wish senator gillibrand a happy birthday. I want to thank senator graham and all the others for bringing this whole issue to light. This has been a sort of dirty little secret for a long time on College Campuses that women were abused and then afraid to come forward. And because of the efforts of the two senators that were going to hear testifying and so many others, thats not happening anymore. And all you have to do is talk to people, relatives, children of friends, women who were on College Campuses and ask them how serious is this . Most of them say its far more serious than you know. And so to get to the bottom of this and do something about it is something we can do in a bipartisan way, we can show that Government Works and works well when we put our minds together and come up with careful, rational but Strong Solutions and i look forward to hearing the testimony and working with the sponsors of legislation to make that happen. Senator franken, anything . No, im just looking forward to hearing from my colleagues and then from the witnesses. When we are united, we are i think, an objective evaluation would say that we are a force to be reconed with, and we are united on this effort, along with senator hellor r and senator grassley who have worked tirelessly to put together what truly is a bipartisan bill. Theres a lot of give and take thats already gone into the development of this election and i know all of us look forward to introducing it for its passage next year. In that vein, its porvet that we hear from your committee how we can make that even better. I want to say that this is complicated first, because were dealing with two systems, were dealing with a title 9 system and were dealing with a criminal justice m system. And the two systems have different goals. The title 9 system, while it is there for the address of victims, it is there primarily to force College Campuses to provide a safe and crime free and discrimination free campus. That is the purpose behind title 9 and when you combine those two systems it is confusing and complicated. So what we do has to strengthen title 9 and hopefully provide more victims with to the reassurance that they need, the survivors, the reassurance they need that they can in fact avail themselves of the justice that is there in the criminal Justice System. Right now, because the criminal Justice System has been very bad, in fact much worse than the military, and much worse than College Campuses, in terms of addressing victims and supporting victims and pursuing prosecutions, theres almost a false position that victims have taken through advocacy groups that they might be better off doing the title 9 process. So what we really have to do in in this k06 indicate ed indicat get support and good information about the options that are available to them. We have taken reporting in the military from one in 12 to one in h so its in that frame work that we have tried the to work out a bill that will strength the support services for victims, provide them more information and as i said to College Campuses all over my state when i did my tour, it does the College Campuses no good to have a great system in place if the students dont know about it. I must comment before i leave it to this committees work to finding even better ways we can do this, that i am saddened and angry about the bad journali ii in the rolling stoeng about an alleged gang rape at the university of virginia. I am saddened and angry because it is a set back for survivors in this country. This is not a crime where you have ram parent false reporting or embellishment, this is a crime that is the most underreported crime in america and will remain so. And our problem is not victims coming forward and embellishing, our problem is victims are too frightened to come forward. So this bad piece of journalism, i think, has set us back and i want to make sure that we overcome it and dont allow it to slow us in our determination to make sure that victims have the support they need at the moment they need it. And thank you mr. Chairman for giving me a chance to say a few words this emergenmorning and ik with you and the other members of the committee and with our cosponsors on the bill to make it better and stronger and get it passed next year so that we can beginning to have a list of reforms on College Campuses that we have been able to accomplish in the military. Thank you, senator mccaskell, i dont think you and senator gillibrand have to be working together to be forces to be reconed with. Let me turn to senator gillibrand. Thank you senator mccaskell. I really appreciate this committee for holding this hearing. The fact that according to one study nearly one in five women in college will be victims of Sexual Assault or attempted assault during their under graduate careers should shake the conscience of all of us too many young womens lives are being changed forever for us to accept the status quo. Earlier this congress along with a Bipartisan Coalition of ten senators introduced the campus accountability and safety act. A bill that will finally hold colleges and universities accountable for facing this head on aggressively with the goal of making cam empty promise that it is today. The bill was the result of exhaustive efforts listening to survivors and the short i want to thanning both chairman white house and Ranking Member graham for their leadership and their support of that bill. Clearly we in Congress Must look at how Law Enforcement must improve to be part of the solution, first in our comprehensive bill, we require every college and university in the country to have a memorandum of understanding with local Law Enforcement. Its shocking that this requirement doesnt yet exist. In these types of crimes, where physical evidence is crucial, time is precious and we cant tolerate the hours or days or weeks of delays while just dictional arguments are being made. Its where serve to flip the current incentive for colleges and universities that would rather sweep these cases under the rug. 100 of survivors of campus assault feel comfortable and confident reporting to Law Enforcement so alleged assailants are legally held accountable through due process. But time and again i have heard from far too many survivors of campus Sexual Assault that they have felt revictimed because of the crime the police should be the First Responders when a crime this serious occurs, but in the vast majority of Police Departments, have responded to reports with victim blaming and belittlement and as a result survivors have lost trust in Law Enforcement. Today i would like to provide some survivor experiencings when they tried to report the i want to address the university of virginia story in Rolling Stone that some may hold up as a reason not to believe survivors when they come forward. Clearly, we dont know the facts of what happened or what didnt happen in this case. But these facts have not changed. Uva has admitted that they have allowed students who have confessed to Sexual Assaulting another student to remaining on campus. That is and remains shocking. More importantly, it has never been about this one school and it is painfully clear that colleges across the country have a real problem in how theyre handling or not handling cases of Sexual Assault on their campuses. I hope this story will not ultimately outshine the story of thousands of young women and men telling their stories and Holding Colleges and universities across the country accountable. And i hope it will not discourage other countries from who are demafbding reform and their voices are vital to the debate. I refuse to let this one story become an excuse for congress not to fix a broken system. Because i have met with these students and seen them bravely tell their personal stories so that other young men and women on campus will not have their own story to tell tomorrow. Young women who was raped by a fellow student in Columbia University reported her rape to the police. She described to a Police Detective how her assailant had pitched her arms down her choked her and hit her across the face despite her shouting and telling him no. The detective responded by telling emma that the encounter was consensual because she had previous consensual sex with the individual. The officer repeatedly stated that the perpetrator just got a little weird that night, right. Anna was raped, at age 18, just two weeks into her freshman year at Hobart Williams Smith College when she filed formal criminal charges, the police sent the prosecutor a report filled with errors which included in particular failing to identify major discrepancies given my three alleged perpetrators. Anna had experienced blunt force trauma. But the police never acquired dna samples from the alleged perpetrators, the direct attorney never interviewed anna and he declined to bring charges just one day after drawn out court proski four out of every five rapes that are reported to the police are never prosecuted. Simply unacceptable. We must provide survivors of campus Sexual Assault with options that are beneficial to both Law Enforcement and survivors. Better information to send to to the ash land Police Department, ash land oregon has developed a model for investigating reports of Sexual Assault that sfrooifrs to achieve these goals, called the you have Options Program reporting. The Department Found that by using trauma informed investigative techniques in allowing victims to provide as much or Little Information about the assault as they choose in a time frame that they feel comfortable, the department can actually increase reporting and collect better evidence. In fact when i sat down with a woman who developed the program, she said she was able to convince her Police Department to do this because there were the tools that were necessary to catch multiple rapes by the same perpetrator. So if they could convict these types of serial rapists, they were willing to try a different system. They found this system worked and that it was extremely effective. By using the you have options reporting program, the ash lapd Police Department saw an increase in reporting by 106 . Theres a Critical Role for Law Enforcement to play in comb combatting Sexual Assault on campuses, by increasing an environment that enkurjs reporting of Sexual Assaults, Police Departments can bring these cases out of the shadows and hold more of the offenders accountable. I look forward to todays testimony, and to identify areas that we can improve our criminal Justice System. I look forward to correspondenting to push the reform of the way that scam puss handle Sexual Assault by passing our big. Obviously its time to end the scourge of rape and Sexual Assault on College Campuses and provide the resources they need tory cover and hold these people accountable. I look forward to working with all my colleagues on this committee to help improve the situation. Thank you. Thank you, senator, for your reeder ship on this issue, we are delighted also that your constituent chief kathy zoner from cornell will be one of our withins and you mentioned andrea flesh man from the university. Lets bring up the next panel. While the next panel is coming up, let me have a logistics moment. We have a vote that is beginning at 10 30. So i think what i will do at some point during the testimony i will have a brief hiatus, so anyone who eeg here can go and vote. I will wait until the end of the vote, the first vote and then come back and restart the hearing. So dont be surprised if we have to go through that little constitutional fire. Let me ask the witnesses please stand this morning. You confirm the testimony youre about to give before this committee will be to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Please be seated. All right, we are really delighted to have this panel here. I think what ill do is ill make all three introductions, and then well go from witness to witness. We begin with Andrea Fleischer who is the director of Student Support and intervention at Southern University and administrator of campus choice. And in the forensic ex prior to her work at the university, she worked as a Community Based a voe cat and Program Developer in the field of Sexual Assault and domestic violence. Ms. Fleischer was a contribute for to the development of the you have which has become a model of best practice around the country. We are delighted that you are here. Her testimony reasonal followed by kathy zoner. In 2009, she was sworn in the as the chief of police and she was the first woman to serve in that capacity at cornell serving a community of approximately 21,900 students and 2,700 faculty and staff. She served on the board of directors of the center for crime victims and Sexual Assault for survivors, for over ten years, spending much of that time as president of their board. She also serves on cornells council on Sexual Violence prevention. The president s counsel on alcohol and other drugs and the council on hazing prevention. Chief zoner con screens the public advisory committee. A graduate of Ohio State University and to the fbi national academy, she continues her education at cornell. We are honored to have her. And peg land diagnos day one, more than 25 years, a foufbding member of the attorney generals task force on the sexual and violent physical abuse of children, she was instrumental in the establishment of the rhode Island Childrens advocacy center. Ms. Langhammer acted as chairperson of the rhode Island Children youth and Family Advisory committee. She is also a former member of the rhode island board of review for sexually violent predatory behavior and a member of rhode island jugs oversight committee. We are thrilled to welcome her to this committee. Senator white house and distinguished Committee Members. Ash land Police Departments you have Options Programs and Southern Oregons campus choice. This is a vastly under reported crime. The barriers that keep survivors from coming forward are many but are often surmountable. When we increase at least initial reporting, the resulting benefits to individual victims and to our community are profound. By utilizing specially trained individuals in the response to reports of Sexual Assault, survivors are given access to accurate, complete information and options and communities become safer as we learn to identify the offenders within, most of whom will continue to commit sexual offenses if left unidentified. The need for programs like this is undeniable. Or to accept help by engaging in the campused a minute straif process. The victim is never provided a clear explanation of the Law Enforcement response possibilities, or if Police Response is considered the investigation is often hingedered by campus actions already taken. If the administrative process moves forward and the eck pelled often to move on to another school, where because academic records are protected they are free to offend again. The survivor may drop out of School Feeling unsupported by the administration and as though his or her case was unresolved. Throughout it all, what is missing the what could best mitt tate an informed person who can provide options, ensure that the process proceeds at the who can accompany the victim through the administrative and criminal justice processes, a professional that is trained in interviewing, the criminal Justice System and the title process. Its important for us to acknowledge that part of improving the Campus Response to swaumt is improving Law Enforcement response so it can be a viable option. Traditional policing has left much to be desired in regards to its treatment of victims, investigative techniques and its collaboration with the university and college administrations. Because of this, victims can be discouraged from coming forward to report crimes. Rapists are allowed to continue committing assaults and the safety of campuses remains tenuous, by creating a system that links both Campus Administration and Law Enforcement you have options and campus choice have each more than doubled the reporting in their jurisdictions. Encouraging victims to come forward and report in whatever manner they are most comfortable, including anonymously, in person or through a website. Victims choose the level of reporting they want and dictate the time frame and scope of their investigation and are assured of their right to suspend the investigation at any time. Providing these options to the victims yields valuable information about offenders in the community that police would not otherwise have regardless of the ultimate legal outcome. Campus choice provides students with the opportunity to seek information and options through confidenceal advicing. Students can receive information and help without triggering a machkdory investigation. It is imperative that the College Administrator serve deep understanding of both the criminal Justice System and the titleal 89 process. Municipal police can also interact with a confidential advisor without triggering a mandatory campus invests N Partnership Law Enforcement and campus stake holders meet monthly to review campus Sexual Assault cases and the confidential advisor atechbds the countys monthly before serving as a confidential advisor at i was part of the development of the you have Options Program and brought to the school my knowledge, understanding and experience in responding to Sexual Assault in a system that prioritized offering choice to victims. I am trained in trauma informed interviewing. When the Police Department and the university are working together on a case, im able to accompany a victim through the entire criminal justice process. I have seen first hand the improvements through victim care our programs bring. Before you have options and campus choice there was very little coordination between Law Enforcement and our university. But now, at sou, 76 of the cases coming through confidential advising that involve a crime have interaction with Law Enforcement. There are a number of reasons for this increase in our model a victim may enter either system and expect to get reliable information about both the criminal justice and administrative processes and neither will report to the other without the permission of the victim. However, either entity might contact the other to relay information or ask hypothetical questions that could benefit the understanding and choices of a victim. Most importantly, both campus choice and you have options require that anyone interviewing victim is trained in trauma informed interviewing techniques. Trauma informed interviewing, or fedi process was developed to recognize and spochkd to how trauma affects victims ability to access mem rises of their assault and how it affects their emotions and behavioral presentations. This greatly increases the action rasity of the information provided and profoundly improves during any interview and investigation. The success we have seen it bring to our cases leads us to highlight its use as the most important first step any campus or Law Enforcement agency can take. For those seeking to this is where i urge you to start. I truly believe that Law Enforcement and colleges together can create safer campuses and communities. Becoming fully educated by each others processes, providing forensic experiential interviewing training, adopting the victim centered methods of reporting found in the you have options and campus choice programs. Emphasizing the identification of serial perpetration and committing fully to an awning going purposeful collaboration that focuses on the needs of the victim. I believe this because National Oregon and in Southern Oregon university, i have seen the change begin, it is possible. Thank you. Thank you very much. I have just heard that the vote is about to conclude. So let me suspend the hearing briefly while senator franklin and i go and vote, wait for the new vote to start, vote again and come back, that probably should be five or ten minutes. I thank our witnesses and guests for their patience. Let me call the hearing back into order and apologize for my version of ten minutes. Welcome to time in the United States senate. Chief zoner, please proceed. Thank you very much chairman whitehouse. Senator graham and members of this committee. Ive mitted a longer more detailed but still concise statement for the record and will try to summarize my remarks here u focusing on the best practices that we have engaged in and perhaps make some recommendations. As i begin, i want to stress that Cornell University recognizes Sexual Violence is a serious campus and Public Health issue that affects every member of our community. We commend the subcommittee for taking a closer look between Law Enforcement and cam pugs adjudication procedures. I particularly want to thank my senator for her willingness to work with campuses in new york state. I like everyone at cornell share your goals of preventing Sexual Assaults on our campuses. Cornell has paid close attention to law making we appreciate the difficulty of designing policies that address all the complexities and nuances of preventing and responding to Sexual Violence. The schools code of conduct and internal policies. Theyre governed by a number of laws, like title 9, regulations and sub regulatory guidance. Law enforcement investigations are conducted by the Law Enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the Sexual Assault took place. There are several key differences between a campus adjudication proceeding and a Law Enforcement investigation. Standard of proof is one of them. Because campus fact finders use a preponderance of evidence standard, and Law Enforcement proceedings use beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard, survivors and those supporting them become angry and confused when a da is unable to prosecute cases criminally where a reresponsiveness denlt has been found responsible on their campus. Evidence, campus factfinders are permitted to consider a broad range of evidence, including hearsay or unauthenticated evidence that would not be permissible in a legal proceeding. It takes more than 60 days to process some evidence like dna and twlvr the vast administrative time frame may also taint admissible evidence and accelerate discovery that harms the complain nant in a criminal proceeding. Theres no opportunity for crossexamination in a campus investigation or a judicial proceeding. Crossexamination, however, is one of the corner stones of a criminal trial, guaranteed by the sixth amendment. Campuses must investigate all reports of Sexual Violence made through responsible employees under title 9. Additionally campus officials must have an obligation to guide students through the process if they desire. If a student chooses to file a criminal complaint, the campus is not permitted to delay its title 9 investigation which must be concluded within 60 days while the criminal case is proceeding. The source of this is a source of much tension between the two systems and my administrative colleagues have found that largely due to these conflicts, parties are less willing to cooperate and be candid while a criminal investigation is pending. In the face of these difficult issues, you asked me to talk about some best practices. First we suggest being a Good Neighbor with your other local Law Enforcement agencies. Our main campus lies within several governmental jurisdictions, our cooperative efforts with local Law Enforcement begin long before a crime is reported. Leaders and supervisors meet and talk on a regular basis so that we can share information nationally and not only on an ad hoc or emergency basis. Establishing regular and open lines of communication increases our confidence and trust to share information on indications that cross jurisdictional lines. A memorandum of understanding or mou with local Law Enforcement is often cited as a best practice and i agree that it can be helpful. But entering into one is not always possible and municipalities request large jurisdictions may finding themselves with very different mous to content with. Given the one sited nature of an mou, and the amount of time and resources it takes to secure and maintain one, lawmakers should consider carefully a sweeping mandate to enter into one. There are better les costly more balanced ways to achieve the same goals. In any case the penalty proposed for fame your to secure an m ou goes too far for something thats so out of the institutions control. Although the letting sure wave the penalty of an institution demonstrates a good faith effort, it gives the Police Department too much discretion and d oes resources also could be more fruitfully engaged. We reiterate our colleagues emphasis on trauma informed investigations. We know that oochbl a small percentage of Sexual Assaults are reporteded to the police. Victims believe they will not be treated fairly or retraumatized all throughout the process. Trained and investigative techniques, i believe the perceptions of the way we handle Sexual Assault cases will improve. The you have Options Program pioneered in ash land, oregon is a good example of how this training works. Community engagement to share resources. Most municipal sis are stretched thin and not able to engage fully with their campus populations. For example, many databases and other investigative support tools are not available to campus Law Enforcement because were not considered upon governmental agencies by the state or municipal agencies. Easier access to these resources will be a tremendous help to appropriate campus Law Enforcement agencies and ease the burden on the governmental agencies. We know youre concerned about the amount of enforcement of v title 9 and the cleary act. Increased fines for noncompliance should be coupled for training, education, programming around prevention, Law Enforcement and administrative and research. As i noted previously. Resources to support training and trauma informed investigations however im sorry. As i noted previously, resources to support training and trauma informed investigations will benefit campus adjudicate fors and Law Enforcement. Im concerned however that the system proposed does not differentiate between willful, knowing and intentional conduct and inadvertent conduct. Thereby affecting the amount of Resources Available to do a better job. The bill allows the department to keep the fines it collects creating an incentive for overenforcement. I suggest that we revise these laws to differentiate between willful and inadvertent violences. I also strongly encourage you to target education and prevention programs at the middle and high school levels, to begin to address cull churm issues around sex, alcohol, controlled substance usage and consent before students arrive at college. Attitudes and perceptions about sex, healthy relationships and general rules solidify long before young people reach college age. The earlier see we can meaningful and impactful time, the better chance we have of making the sweeping cultural changes necessary to get at the root of this problem. In conclusion, Cornell University does not tolerate any form of Sexual Violence by or against members of its community, we share the responsibility for creating safer more Campus Culture n which harassment and violence. Now we will turn to ms. Langhammer. And thank you for inviting me to testify today. Day one has conserved as Rhode Islands Sexual Assault coalition for over 40 years. We provide treatment, intervention, education, advocacy and Prevention Services to Rhode Islanders of all ages and we operate the states of course childrens advocacy center. Our trained staff of 40 employees and 60 plus volunteers works closely with Law Enforcement, prosecution, area hospitals, schools and the community to address and prevent Sexual Assault and abuse with highly regarded trauma informed treatment and programs. Rhode islands high concentration of colleges and universities make the issue of campus Sexual Assault a major focus or day one. We worked with victims of college Sexual Assault throughout our long history so we have been aware of the issues prevalence. We know these cases are rarely reported to Law Enforcement and the ones that are hardly ever move on to successful prosecution. Its clear, the Current System is not working. There has never been a comprehensive system that works in the best interests of victims, either in our state or around the country. Day one is on the front lines and committed to changing that in rhode island. To start the process, we are organizing a Specialized Task force to address adult Sexual Assault in rhode island that includes Law Enforcement, prosecution, day oned a voe kalts, medical professionals and Higher Education representatives. This team will be responsible for the oversight of adult Sexual Assault cases from the initial report to investigation and prosecution to trauma informed clinical treatment and support for the victim. We will ensure that the victim is in the drivers seat. Campus based adjudication processes dont work. Colleges alone are not competent to handle the investigation and prosecution of these cases nor should they be. Any hearing process should be integrated with Law Enforcement. But it has to be a team approach. After the release of the white house not alone report last year, the issue of campus squall came frofblt and center in rhode island. Stay one has been proactively meeting with nearly all of the colleges and universities throughout the state to develop a best practices approach to these cases. And what we have found is that everyone at the table from universitieies committed to making major improvements in but we need a coordinated approach to get there. 90 of campus rates are committed by repeat offenders, averaging six victims each. The rapists overwhelmingly remain at large, escaping punishment. The climate is that lawmakers are scrambling to find a global fix, with misleading on what constitutes rape. We need to focus on bystander, so they can intervine when they see someone being taken advantage of. And a system that holdings offenders accountable. We know we cant leave the cases to it criminal Justice System, because victims are reluctant to report. The question is not should colleges be mandated to report crimes to police, the question s how do we create a system where the victims choices are the priorities and the process is designed to work in the best interest of the victim. We have to make the option of reporting a viable one for victims, and we know that based on successful models in other states, a positive experience during initial reporting, where victims feel supported and believed. One example worth noting as we talked about today, is the you have optionings program out of the arbland, oregon Police Department, recognizes the offender focused response to Sexual Violence lie Law Enforcement professionals, a few highlight that is impressed us in rhode island, a primary goal of the program is to increase Sexual Assault reporting, eliminating the barriers to reporting as possible. A key component is that victim has the option to make an information report only. Meaning that victim can choose to remain anonymous, and provide details of the case to Law Enforcement for documentation. When making an initial report, there is no requirement to meet in person, with a Law Enforcement officer. A victim or other party may report using an online form, or the victim may choose to have an advocate on their behalf. They maintain control over the time and location to where the initial report is made to Law Enforcement. In addition to advocacy provisions, the victim is not pressured to participate in a criminal investigation after making a report. What we are advocating for doesnt universally exist today. We have to create it. If we expect victims to report these crimes, we need a system that works for them. One in which they are believed, supported and can be confident in a just outcome. We owe it to our students to provide the best to all assaults, we are accepteding a message to not bother reporting the crime. Thank you. Thank you very much, let me thank senators for joining us. Before they came here, let me step out of order for a moment. I will close the hearing, i know that the senator is under the gun for another hearing, if i could yield immediately to him for questioning, that is probably the most. Thank you. It seems that you have Options Program got unanimous raves from the panel here. And it says something. I was wondering, is there knowing the mchaskle gill brant legislation s there anying that you can take from your preliminary that would legislateively say, these are the best practices, you need to do a program like that any particular aspect of the program that you think that within the legislation itself . I think it would be great if the legislation would include requirements of Law Enforcement as well. The bill does address colleges providing confident advising, and knowledgeable through the campus. That seems a bit complicated to abdullah akadi into a bill that is mostly directed at campuses. Of course, you all know about that better than i do. Offering choice and collaboration, and working with a Campus Administration, around reports would go a long way. At the direction of of the victim, as to whether or not that is what they want or not. What about the trauma informed testimony . That seems to be, is there a way to describe that that that is an interviewing technique, to be used in the military, it is based on biological science is around how our braves for memory when we experience traum a it diverges from a rapid fire questioning experience, and really affects investigators to slow down, approach an interview while talking about all of the senses of memory. What did you hear, what you feel, what did it smell like, departs from linear investigation. Where were you, what time was it, who were you with, those types of things, and starts from, tell me what you can about a particular situation that happened. Pressured to answer a question, and so, in order to do that, they may be give an answer that maybe isnt entire accurate, trying to be pleasing to those asking the questions. When you phrase things like, tell me what you can about, that allows a person to tell you what they k. This is for the panel. I had a bill that provides Mental Health allows schools to partner with to make sure treatment, and if as they need it. We got about 55 million in new funding for these kinds of programs. I have seen this work well. College campuses. Interested in exploring the same model with College Campuses, for anyone in the panel, what would you include in legislation to expand students access to Mental Health care and to make sure that College Students get the Ment Al Health support that the need . I think it is great you are putting that forward. I think it is important to students have access on campus and off campus, there may be times when it makes sense to Seek Services from private providers in the community, not for profit Mental Health centers, or organization that is provide services. On campus as well. I didnt know that all campuses have that level of professional to respond to what victims need in particular. I think that it is important to expand it, and have it be available in the training available to those that would like to access it, and become skilled in that area. One of the barrier that is we see is a lack of time. One is based on the school year. And generally disengaged for the summer period in tends to limit the sessions that people can have with the therapist. Ultimately, it am cans back to a resource issue, i think. When you are doing trauma work, it is often long and enveloped and over a long period of time. Thank you very much, thank you for holding the hearing, and thank you to our witnesses. I was a prosecutor for eight years, manage an office of 400, and we worked extensively with the university of minnesota and the police chief. One of the things with the discussions of campus Sexual Assault, and Sexual Assault in the military that i have always put forward is that there is trust in the system is key. All of the victim survey, the Gold Standard is trying the case and getting a sentence, that doesnt always happen. Sometimes you cant prove it. I have met with victim and their families and said, we believe you, but we dont have the evidence right now. We want you to know it will make a difference. This guy will do it again, we will do something then, perhaps your testimony will matter. Those are hard discussions, what we found in the survey, what makes the biggest difference, they still feel they can trust the system, is that someone is listening and handling their case seriously. Sometimes, when people look at it, it is all about charging, we know that doesnt always happen, it is also about trust. I wonder if you can address that a bit in terms of that trust. Maybe you, chief and why that is an important piece of this. I dont know if i could say it better. That is a great answer. You can have the best investigation, the best advocacy, you can have the most will be and energized and in pursuit of justice because of lack of willing to prosecute. Because of concerns about win loss records, very candidly put. Then you can run into a greater difficulty in getting more people to come forward. Very much what you said. Building that trust throughout the entire stage of the system is parmount. Very good. One thing we did at the university of minnesota, we do something called take back the night every year t raises awareness. I wonder if you could address the simple idea that sometimes we think Everybody Knows bl how to prevent this from happening, a lot of times, students are just out of high school. And they show up, at campus, and they can make bad decisions, and the perpetrators can make bad decisions, talk about how education matters. Absolutely. What we find at the college level, consent. Mostly, in our culture, we dont talk a lot about sex in general, and how to pursue t make sure that everybody wants it, there is a percentage of people who really are just uninformed how to gain consent to have sex. It ends, i think, it was the chief who talked about having education and prevention happening early on in schools, where you are talking about concept from an early age. Then, certainly, at a college level. When we do our educative out reach, to students that is primarily what wree talking about is consent. Not so much focussing on Sexual Assault and rape, students knowing what consent is, how to get consent, and be sure that all parties involved are participating because they want to. Chief zoner, we talk about Police Officers on the front line, i will tell you, i like the idea of having more women chiefs, when i first started as prosecutor, i talked to the university of Minnesota Police chief, she was going to take me around and introduce me to the where we would eat stake at 11 00 in the morning, how will i know. She said, it wont be hard. She was the only woman. And we greatly increased the numbers, i think that would help personally. Higher up, in the Police Departments, i think that there is best practices that you can recommend to other chiefs, talk about that how to deal with victims of Sexual Assault. Yes, i think the type of person that gets drawn to Law Enforcement is the type of person who quickly and rapidly wants to get all the facts together and see justice served. Allow the person to give particular testimony in a way that make the most sense and gets the most truthful information, the most accurate recollection s a way to reemphasize that a victimcentered approach will go farther in the prosecutorial proceedings, Law Enforcement officers, and i think that again, you mentioned women in Law Enforcement. The sentiments of being a good listener, as opposed to looking forward, and trying to get to the goal as fast as you can, have to be carefully balanced. Women do tend to carry on more conversational manner of speaking. Whatever level they are in, i think our colleagues can learn from each other, anyone who exhibits good listeners, and allowing someone to move forward should be reinvorced. My time is up, i appreciated your commentings, about different sizes of colleges and universities. The issue about time, and how you do that. We will have to, as we look at it, not every college will be able to have full time people do this in a smaller play. You have to look at trainers in the counties and departments as well. Thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you for holding this hearing, it is important, i have been involved in helping to write the bill that it senators and i have done. It provides for better fact finding and on campus, through confidential advisors, and a process of ajudication, all too often, it is adhoc and unfair to both sides. The lack of a process with integrity and accuracy, is what sis courages survivors from coming forward. This bill gives them more choice, the criminal process off campus or a fair, uniform process with due process on campus, the experience at the university of virginia should reaffirm our resolve. Not only to addressing the epidemic of campus Sexual Assault, but providing reassurance to victims and survivors that there will be due process, and accurate fact finding with integrity and honesty, and services. A commitment to services, so that a woman isnt left standing outside a fraternity seeking help from her friends. She should have support within the system. Confidential advisories, services that will illicit the truth from her, provide means of forensic evidence and preserving it, and a system that avoids the adhoc, sometimes chaotic process, demeaning and discouraging to victims and survivors. Bee are unable to draw clear conclusions as to what facts were at this point, should intensify and increase our determination to make this process worthy of the courage of survivors who do come forward. Whatever happened to this victim or survivor, should redouble our determination. Let me ask, i strongly believe that we should require schools to provide comprehensive training to individuals who serve on a campus ajudication panel. We should pick people who have the expertise to provide some measure of fairness and due process. I think it is important that victims have clear thorough options presented to them. That the options are developed iN Partnership with all of the appropriate players, that is that any campus officials should be working ahead of time, before incidents happen. The partnerships should be developed. Beyond mou, i agree, that is not enough. The partnerships need to be in place, so that it actually develops into a system where Law Enforcement does know about every assault that happens. However, the victim needs to be in that drivers seat. The victim the victim should be in charged of what happens, with the prosecution, if that is the choice, or oncampus ajudication, you dont disagree, on campus adjudication should be an option for a survivor. That is the way i hope i didnt, i hope i misread your testimony, i read it as essentially disapproving those oncampus ajudication processes to, use your words, that they dont work. As they currently exist, they tend to replace any effective reporting or investigation or prosecution on the criminal side. So what happens is, in most caseses the most that might happen is an individual who be suspended or expelled. Free to go to another institution. Given the statistics as we know most of the individuals are serial offenders. That is an important point. Predators commitment crime after crime after crime. A small minority of college men commitment the overwhelming number of rapes and Sexual Assaults against women. It seems to me the issue that you just raised, Record Keeping and record transfers is separate and apart from the existence and integrity and fact finding effectiveness of an oncampus ajudication, support what is in the bill to preserve and in fact, inhans, many are taking the initiate. My time is expired. I would be happy with the chairman would allow us or allow you to finish your answer for you to do so, thank you. Would you glaldly do, they dont disagree with you that there needs to be some kind of process as an option for victimos campus. There are a lot of thing that is need to be addressed on campus to support that victims effective continuation, in campus l however, a lot 6 those processes having been develop what should be on campus, what should not. What should not happen on campus, and currently, universities, ads min administrators are forced to act as judge and jury. The defendants rights are violations, we have seen the horror shows on campus after campus. I dont know that we are at a place where we developed effective oncampus ajudication processes, because we havent worked effectively so far, maybe in some cases we have, with Law Enforcement. I really encourage this, i know in rhode island, we will be looking at the ashland model. The new kid on the block for all of us in a sense. I think addresses, the concerns that you have, as well as the concerns that we see at in many cases only the ajudication process are given in a thorough way to victims, that is our reluctance to say, yes we need a good ajudication process. I think they have to be hand in hand with all of the other options. I want to thank all of you for your testimony and your appearance here and great work. If i am able to stay for more questions, i will ask them. I wanted to emphasize, for folks in the trenches like yourself, doing this work. The controversy about the university of virginia probably seems like a distraction, it is no excuse for continuing to support the cause of improving the services and the process available to victims and survivors, thank you mr. Chairman. I think it is a fair description, i would like to get into that complicated thicket right now. You talked about the importance of assuring victims, survivors, their right to suspend the Law Enforcement investigation as it goes forward. One might say, if you give the victim of the crime the ability to do that, it will result in less enforcement. I think you have seen that isnt true. When survivors are entered into any process, Law Enforcement or administrative process, there is a time frame and a rush. What happens for a lot of survivors, they feel catapulted by the process, it is out of their control. And a lot of the time, they dont really truly understand what is going on, mostly, folks dont nld a criminal investigation or the parts and pieces of it and so, what we have actually found is that it has increased not only reporting, but it has increased the cases that go to the das office. The survivors are given the time they need to engage in the process to understand process and to be real, to map tain the rest of their life. That is another thing that happens, peoples lives get hijacked by the criminal justice process. And you know, they are needing to find different shifts at work, if it is a student, impacting their studies, all of those things, another barrier for survivors is informing their parents, the process they are engaged in it by allowing them to suspend and pause, they can sort of take care of the bits and pieces in a way that they feel comfortable to continue on, in the criminal justice process. I would note by formalizing that ru not giving much away. In cases like this, where conse consent, or lack of consent, the it is crucial, all you are really doing is informing and confirming for victims of the crime, a power that they have anyway but dont know. It is a big black box to them going n takes me to my second question. Sometimes everybody in that process has two things going on. One is responding to the event itself. Gather evidence. Statements, the case, one way or the other. The second, is to educated subject of the offense about that process. Those two things in your program, there is a confident advisor exempt from the title nine process. It doesnt tick off the title nine clock when they are spoken to . Yes. At the same time, the police can engage with the victim of the crime without being oblimed to necessarily open a criminal case and proceed with charges. Yes. Together, and that gives a person who has been the subject of this crime the chance to understand what it is going to be, what the choices are, all of that. Before the second process gets triggered. Is that a fair thing you are trying to achieve. The make sure the sheft bule moment exits. Best illustrated by a case example. A woman present, she was referred to me, came to my office and outlined for me what happened to her. So, given my knowledge, which i said was imperative of the criminal Justice System, i knew it was in our state a measure 11 crime, there are crimes perpetrated against her would carry a 25year prison sentence, we are talking about a serious crime. So, i let her know that she was disclosing a crime to me. And at that time, sort of said, here are your options, this is what we can do on campus, this is what we can do with Law Enforcement. One of the things they think is important to know as well, she was getting my endorsement of Law Enforcement. Sort of, i was opening a door saying you will have a good experience here. I can go with you for that. This particularly woman said, okay, lets do it right now today. I said, okay, i will call and see if there is a detective to work with us today. There was. I had a free calendar, she interviewed with Law Enforcement right then. I was there. Still in that process, i am able to do as a College Administrator, it was another college student, are you safe in your current campus environment. Here is what it looks like, the title nine process, here is the time clock, once we involve the other campus people. This woman was okay. I wanted to mention that of course, that is important. We need to access if somebody is safe and able to be a student, be able to live in their environment, all of those things, she was, and was invested in that process. She participated with that support, up until they were ready to interview and make an arrest of him. At that point, is when we engaged our title 9 process on campus, now, nothing the college is going to do will impede the criminal Justice System. In a way it helps our case as a college, that this engagement with Law Enforcement has happened. So, both of those procedures happened successfully, the student had a plea bargain, he is a registered sex offender and charged and convicted of those crimes, he was expelled from the university. And the last piece i would say about that, there are other parts, i accompanied her to grand jury, i went with her when the sentencing happened, there to explain some of the other bits and pieces of things, crime victim compensation, where is he going to be on probation, how does he get in touch with those peegz. After both matters are closed. Just to say about her, she is still a stupidity. She is still impacted. Because the two processes have concluded, her life continuing to be impacted by what happened
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