Sexual Assault Response Team (SART)

For the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit

 

Rape, sexual assault and sexual violence are illegal activities; still, rape is believed to be the most under-reported crime in America. These are crimes in which there is not just one type of victim but many. Crime statistics document men, women and children as falling victim to this disturbing type of crime. Statistics also show there is not an age barrier or a class that is immune to sexual assaults. Sexual assaults have severely marred our community for generations. In Bulloch, Jenkins, Screven counties, indeed all over Georgia, the number of rapes, sexual assaults and other types of sexual violence is unacceptably high. While there is usually a primary victim in an incident, the crime doesn’t just touch that one person. The illegal act causes a ripple effect that reaches across generations, counties, and involves all ages, races, religions nationalities and needs to make the decision that we are going to actively collaborate so we are no longer on the defensive. Health professionals, law enforcement officials,communities and families come face-to-face with the devastating incidents more often than should ever happen.  We serve to Effect better outcomes for victims, Establish and maintain a strong, cohesive group, Create/increase our capacity to address adverse issues, languages, cultures, disabilities, and victim experiences, and measure/track our results and outcomes.
 

"Acknowledging that a woman's right to be safe from a gender-based attack was a "civil right," I believed, was critically important in changing the American consciousness. When a right reaches the status and categorization of a "civil right," it means the nation has arrived at a consensus that is nonnegotiable. Violence against women would no longer be written off ... Once our criminal justice system -- at the local, state and federal levels -- recognized these as serious and inexcusable crimes, women could stop blaming themselves.”
-- Senator Joseph Biden