Crime

Kamala D. Harris, Janet Napolitano Take Steps to Address Campus Sexual Assault

Published

10 years ago

May 19, 2015

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has announced steps to address the pervasive issue of campus sexual assault on California’s college campuses.

Joined by University of California President Janet Napolitano, law enforcement leaders and victim advocates, Attorney General Harris released a Model Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), comprised of a How-To Guide and Template MOU for law enforcement agencies and institutions of higher learning to improve their coordination, collaboration and transparency in response to cases of campus sexual assault.

<p>“California has some of the best colleges and universities in the world,” said Attorney General Harris. “But for far too many hard-working students, the dream of an education from a top school is upended by sexual violence. We must acknowledge these students’ value to our future and give them the respect and dignity they deserve as our next leaders.”

Studies suggest that as many as one in five undergraduate students have been a victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault. In addition, this crime is severely underreported, with 80 percent of campus sexual assaults going unreported to law enforcement.

UC President Janet Napolitano

“A primary goal in our efforts at the University of California to prevent and respond to sexual violence and sexual assault has been to make sure law enforcement agencies are more fully engaged with us on this serious issue,” said UC President Janet Napolitano.

California is entering a new era of accountability for campus sexual assault. For the first time under California law, campuses across the state are required to immediately alert law enforcement when a sexual assault occurs.

By July 1, California campuses must have policies in place to ensure that reports of violent crime, hate crime, or sexual assault made to campus authorities are immediately disclosed to law enforcement.

The Model MOU will help campuses and law enforcement agencies comply with their new obligations, increase reporting, and improve their response to campus sexual assault to seek justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators.

Specifically, the Model MOU lays out key action items that include:

Clarifying the duties of campus authorities and law enforcement agencies following an assault, including who will act as first responder, who will collect and preserve evidence, and how to share necessary information while preserving victim privacy
Ensuring that campuses, law enforcement, and community-based organizations work together to connect victims to services – including rape kits – as soon as possible
Committing to regular training for both the campus and law enforcement communities

Attorney General Harris has a decades-long commitment to reducing sexual violence, holding perpetrators accountable and seeking justice for sexual assault victims. As a line prosecutor in Alameda County and then as the District Attorney of San Francisco, the Attorney General has long focused on violence against women and children.

In her first year in office, the Attorney General eliminated a longstanding backlog of untested rape kits in state-run labs – which included 1,300 DNA cases. In April 2014, the California Attorney General’s Rapid DNA Service Team received the United States Department of Justice Award for Professional Innovation in Victim Services.

In January 2015, Attorney General Harris issued an information bulletin to California law enforcement agencies, higher education administrators and campus security personnel, providing enforcement guidance on new and amended sexual assault and campus safety laws. The bulletin summarized SB 967 (Senate pro Tempore Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles) and AB 1433 (Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Glendale), gave enforcement guidance in the context of existing state and federal statutes, and encouraged increased collaboration between law enforcement and campus authorities. At the time she released the bulletin, Attorney General Harris promised to release further guidance in the coming months, including this model agreement.

To view the Model MOU, go to https://oag.ca.gov/campus-sexual-assault.