Creating an Effective Justice System Response to Sexual Assault
This training is designed for prosecutors handling sexual assault cases and SANEs interested in learning more about testifying in court.
SANE Supplemental Training
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of rapists are serial offenders who are known to their victims. They are adept at creating, identifying, and exploiting perceived vulnerabilities in their victims, ultimately rendering them more vulnerable to attack through the use of premeditated tactics and non-traditional weapons. Further, rapists routinely benefit from society’s, and the criminal justice system’s, common misconceptions regarding their appearance, behavior, use of weapons, etc. This can result in a failure to identify, report, and hold them accountable for their crimes. Taking these cases to trial requires that prosecutors understand the rules of evidence, the importance of trial preparation and a robust motion practice, the effects of trauma on victims and their testimony, and how to find an correctly use expert witnesses like Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs)
SANES are one of the most well-known specialties within the field of forensic nursing. Many prosecutors are comfortable using forensic nurses, including SANEs, to testify to the facts of a case. However, forensic nurses may be overlooked as accessible and credible expert witnesses. Prosecutors can use forensic nursing expert testimony to educate the jury on the characteristics of assaulted individuals (to include characteristics of injury, and mechanisms of injury and wounds) and to inform the jury why there may be an absence of injury. Forensic nurses can also assist prosecutors by reviewing medical records prior to trial and identifying relevant portions of the documentation.
Trainers: Leslie Hagen, National Indian Country Training Coordinator with U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Education and Dr. Jenifer Markowitz, Principal, Forensic Healthcare Consulting, LLC
Leslie A. Hagen serves as the Department of Justice’s first National Indian Country Training Coordinator. In this position, she is responsible for planning, developing, and coordinating training in a broad range of matters relating to the administration of justice in Indian Country. Previously, Hagen served as the Native American Issues Coordinator for the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. In that capacity, she served as EOUSA’s principal legal advisor on all matters pertaining to American Indian and Alaska Native issues.
Hagen started with the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Western District of Michigan. She was assigned to Violent Crime in Indian Country handling federal prosecutions and training on issues of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse affecting the eleven federally recognized tribes in the Western District of Michigan.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, she served as the staff attorney with the Civil Legal Justice Project for the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and as a specialist in Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice. From 1997-2001, Ms. Hagen served as the Violence Against Women Training Attorney for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan. Ms. Hagen was the elected Prosecuting Attorney for Huron County, Michigan for two terms, an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Midland County, Michigan and a Prehearing Division Attorney for the Michigan Court of Appeals. Ms. Hagen has worked on criminal justice issues related to child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault for over 30 years.
Throughout her career, Ms. Hagen has received several honors, including the 2013 and 2010 Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service in Indian Country and Director=s Awards from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys in 2020 and 2004. Ms. Hagen is a graduate of Alma College and Valparaiso School of Law.
A forensic nurse examiner since 1995, Dr. Markowitz regularly serves as faculty, and as an expert consultant for the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. She has consulted for a variety of agencies and institutions, including Peace Corps, Michigan State University, the US Army Medical Command and the National Institute of Justice. She recently served as lead writer and researcher for the new National Protocol for Intimate Partner Violence Medical Forensic Exams, published by the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). Past national activities
include working with OVW to develop a national protocol and training standards for Sexual Assault Medical-Forensic Examinations (for which she is currently serving as lead writer of the 3rd edition); with the U.S. Department of Defense to revise the military’s Sexual Assault Evidence Collection kit and corresponding documentation forms; with the US Army Surgeon General to write the curriculum for training Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiners in Military Treatment Facilities; and as an Advisory Board member for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. In 2012 Dr. Markowitz served as President of the International
Association of Forensic Nurses. She was a sitting member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces until it was suspended in January 2021 and was reappointed when it was reconstituted in January 2022.
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This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-21-GG-00844-RURA awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, tools, assessments, and/or screenings described on this site do not constitute OVW endorsement or approval but rather reflect tools, assessments, and/or screenings commonly used in the field.
