About the Project

What are you studying?

I am currently finishing a book manuscript about how state policies affect the work of local rape crisis centers. My research draws on interviews with rape care program staff in six states around the country (Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Washington) to better understand how recent rape law reforms re-shape the legal and medical response to sexual assault in local communities.

Within each state I am focusing on three policy areas: sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team programs; emergency contraception for rape victims; and sex offender registration and community notification statutes. Though these are my main topics for exploration I am interested in hearing about any and all local issues that affect RCCs!

Why these states?

I chose these six states for several reasons. I wanted states that represented different regions and political climates around the U.S., had geographic diversity (rural, suburban, and urban areas) within the state, had different types of state funding and coalition arrangements, and had different policy initiatives and outcomes in the three areas I am exploring.

How are you gathering information?

I contacted all of the publicly-funded rape crisis centers in each of the states, and met in person with staff from as many of these agencies as possible.

To my knowledge, this is the largest qualitative/interview-based survey of rape care providers in more than 25 years. The project includes interviews with 167 advocates from 112 sexual assault programs across the six states.