Students, victim’s advocates, and a state representative all provided testimony at today’s Committee on Public Safety meeting in support of HB 5399, a bill that would establish a policy advisory council to evaluate the State’s criminal justice response to sexual assault, as well as create and outline the role of peace officers in response to sexual assault calls.

“There are too many people I know that have had their lives ruined by sexual assault,” said Quinn Luong, a Yale student and member of the Yale College Democrats who testified today. “We must empower victims and give them the help they need by supporting and passing HB 5399.”

The bill has been cosponsored by a litany of state representatives; Maryam Khan (D-Hartford), Anne Hughes (D- Redding), Kate Farrar (D-West Hartford), Josh Elliot (D-Hamden), Christine Palm (D-Haddam), Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-Canton), Aimee Berger-Girvalo (D-Ridgefield), Ceci Maher (D-Darien), Mary Welander (D-Derby) and Corey Paris (D-Stamford).

The council would examine the state’s current methods of investigating and prosecuting cases of sexual violence in hopes of creating a “model policy.” The bill would allow the council to look into law enforcement policies and procedures in response to sexual assault cases and check various agencies’ data collection on sexual assaults for accuracy. The council would also assess data and documents from the state’s court system and evaluate current programming for sexual assault offenders as well as the risk assessments used by courts to judge an offender’s risk of re-offending. It would evaluate arrest, prosecution, penalties and monitoring data for violations of restraining orders in the case of family violence, or protective orders in the case of sexual assaults. 

The council would complete annual reports providing policy recommendations to lawmakers for the improvement of the state’s response to sexual assault. The bill also stipulates that the state’s Office of Victim Services work with the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence (CAESV) on a yearly basis to compile information regarding services and resources available to victims of sexual and domestic violence. At the end of the year, this information would then be sent to the Department of Education, the State Police, municipal police departments, and ambulance companies across the state. The Department of Education would publish this information on its website at the beginning of each year, and send it to local and regional boards of education.

The council would also stipulate the creation of a “peace officer” position to respond to sexual assault calls. This officer would be specially trained on how to respond to survivors. The officer’s duties would include assisting victims to obtain medical treatment if needed, notifying them of their right to file an affidavit for an arrest warrant on their abuser, informing the victim of available services, and providing victims with children on the scene with information concerning mental health evaluation and treatment for the child. The officer would also refer the victim to the Office of Victim Services.

Carley VanBuiten, a social work grad student at SCSU, claimed that sexual assault is one of the most prevalent yet underreported crimes, with 50 percent of women and 1 in 3 men experiencing it in their lives. VanBuiten said that many victims fail to report their assaults as a result of being intimidated by law enforcement’s investigative processes. She also said victims are often met with victim blaming and “rape myths within the criminal justice system, making the process of reporting sexual assault extremely damaging to victims.”

Beth Hamilton, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence (The Alliance), supported VanBuiten’s claims in her own testimony.

“The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that more than 2 out of every 3 sexual assaults are not reported to police,” said Hamilton. “Victims and survivors share that they do not report out of fear that they will not be believed, that they will be retaliated against, or the belief that they will not get good outcomes through the criminal justice system.”

Hamilton said The Alliance worked with several stakeholders including law enforcement, assault survivors, advocates and community leaders to identify ways in which the criminal justice response can be improved. She claimed that every group The Alliance cooperated with supported the idea of creating a model policy in regard to sexual assault. She said members of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and the Division of Criminal Justice spoke in support of the bill.

Representative Greg Howard (R- Stonington) asked Hamilton what she thought the bigger issue is; victims fear when coming forward, or how officers respond when they do. Hamilton said that there needs to be a standardized response put in place so that officers and victims can know what to expect from the process, but also said that the longstanding history of poor outcomes in the justice system for survivors will still be hard to overcome.

“So that’s one side of it,” said Hamilton of the improvements that can be made to police response. “The other side of it is to increase the faith that survivors have in the system to adequately address the crimes that they bring forward.”

Hamilton said while some people may never be willing to come forward, and some criminals will always get off the hook, the survivors she’s spoken to said the way that they were treated by officers, regardless of their case’s outcome, makes an “incredible difference.” Hamilton said that those who were treated well by the officers on their case showed more willingness to work with law enforcement in the future.

The testimony of Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-Canton) highlighted how ugly things can get when investigations go wrong. DeGraw told the story of Nicole Chase. In 2017, Chase reported to Canton Police a sexual assault at the hands of Calvin Nodine, the owner of the restaurant at which she worked. Officers did not take her claim seriously and instead accused her of filing a false police report. It was later found that police did not properly investigate her claims or respond appropriately.

“While the case was settled in court in favor of the survivor, it does not erase the trauma the survivor experienced,” said DeGraw.

Samantha Valle, a UConn student and survivor of sexual assault, said that immediate access to resources after a sexual assault is of the utmost importance. 

“Being informed of resources is often the first step of combatting the aftermath of assault,” said Valle. “Having a trauma informed peace officer at the scene of a sexual assault incident can be crucial in a survivor’s path towards processing and healing from the event.”

Valle said she has seen a “profound impact” made by programs at UConn that work to inform students on the resources available to sexual assault survivors. She also said that it is important for officers to be informed on the intricacies of sexual trauma, as it can often lead survivors to misremember information or file contradictory reports, which can lead to false reports like in the case of Chase.

The council would be filled by appointment and consist of 26 councilors in total. 7 councilors would be individually appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, president of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and the Governor, respectively. 4 councilors would be appointed by the Chief Court Administrator, and would consist of a Superior Court judge, family relations counselor or supervisor, and administrators within the Court Support Services Division and the Office of Victim Services. 4 more would be appointed by the CEO of The Alliance, and consist of a victim of sexual assault, a victim advocate with courtroom experience, an executive director of a community org that provides services to sexual assault victims, and a representative of The Alliance.

10 would either be the heads of their respective organizations, or appointed by the heads of the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, Chief State’s Attorney, Chief Public Defender, Victim’s Advocate, Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Board of Pardons and Paroles, the Commissioner of Correction, and the Commissioner of Emergency Services. The last councilor would be a representative from an association of police chiefs in Connecticut.

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