“The guidance announced today reaffirms our commitment to expanding access to justice for all survivors, who deserve respect, compassion and self-determination,” said Office on Violence Against Women Acting Director Allison Randall. “Eliminating gender bias in policing is a key piece in ending gender-based violence, and can have a real, immediate impact on the safety of survivors, their loved ones and, indeed, their entire communities.”
The guidance reflects input from a wide array of stakeholders, including law enforcement leaders, victim advocates, and civil rights advocates, and builds on previous guidance the department issued in 2015. The original 2015 guidance served two key purposes. First, it examined how gender bias can undermine the response of LEAs to sexual assault and domestic violence. Second, it provided a set of eight basic principles that – if integrated into LEAs’ policies, trainings and practices – help ensure that gender bias, either intentionally or unintentionally, does not undermine efforts to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable. The 2022 revisions to the guidance maintain and build on this framework.
Based on input from stakeholders, the 2022 guidance more thoroughly addresses the need for trauma-informed law enforcement responses to sexual and domestic violence; provides additional examples of how LEAs can incorporate the guidance principles into their policies and practices; discusses the ways that gender bias can intersect with other forms of bias to disproportionately affect survivors from marginalized communities, including but not limited to communities of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) survivors, immigrant survivors and individuals with limited English proficiency; and expands the discussion of the need to address and prevent officer-committed domestic violence and sexual misconduct to hold offenders accountable and enhance community trust.
In conjunction with the revised guidance, the department’s OVW is launching a new webpage, which hosts a comprehensive, annotated list of resources designed to assist LEAs working to implement the guidance and its core principles. Most of these resources have been developed since 2015 and reflect the work of national law enforcement organizations and other DOJ-funded technical assistance providers.
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