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Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI)

Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit box

The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School at Case Western Reserve University is partnering with the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force on an action research project to examine untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in Cuyahoga County.  The Task Force is currently following up via investigation and prosecution on the DNA testing of nearly 5,000 previously untested kits from 1993 through 2009. View an overview of the project.

Research Team: Daniel J. Flannery (Principal Investigator), Laura T. Overman

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Publications and Media

2020-2021

Publications

Lovell R.E., Singer M.E., Flannery D.J., McGuire M.J. (2021)“The Case for ‘Investigate All’: Assessing the Cost-Effectiveness of Investigating No CODIS Hit Cases in a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.”Journal of Forensic Sciences.

Luminais, Misty, Cyleste Collins, and Rachel E. Lovell. (2021).Speaking the Previously Unspeakable: How the Codification of Spousal Rape into Law Affects How Intimate Partner Sexual Assaults are Reported. In Conceptualizing Sexual Violence in Marriage: Research and Policy by Torres, M. Gabriela and Kersti Yllö. (Eds.)

Lovell, R., Overman, L., Huang, D., and Flannery, D. (2020, Sep 25). The Bureaucratic Burden of Identifying your Rapist and Remaining “Cooperative”: What the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Tells us about Sexual Assault Case Attrition and Outcomes. American Journal of Criminal Justice.

Lovell, R.E., Williamson, A., Dover, T.J., Keel, T.G., and Flannery, D.J. (2020, May). Identifying Serial Sexual Offenders Through Cold Cases. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.

Lovell, R., Huang, W., Overman, L., Flannery, D.J. and Klingenstein, J. (2020). Offending Histories and Typologies of Suspected Sexual Offenders Identified via Untested Sexual Assault Kits. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 47(4):470-486. DOI: 10.1177/0093854819896385

In the Media