MCASA Newsletter : Frontline

  JANUARY 6, 2014 Ten years ago, MCASA created SALI – the Sexual Assault Legal Institute. It was one of the first and only legal services offices devoted solely to the needs of survivors of sexual assault and abuse. In the fall of 2003, SALI was created with the help of the Violence Against Women Office at the Department of Justice. OVW recognized that, while many victims of domestic violence had access to legal services, there were virtually no services for sexual assault survivors who were not intimate partners of their assailant. The Maryland Legal Services Corporation provided more support by

Human sex traffickers use threats, violence, or coercion to gain power over vulnerable individuals and treat their victims as modern-day slaves. By selling their victims’ bodies, the traffickers are able to make large amounts of money. While laws like the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 are in place to combat this massive crime against human rights, the number of victims of human trafficking continues grow and the MD HT Task Force of which MCASA is a member works hard to combat human trafficking in our state . This issue of Frontline includes articles

Sexual assault survivors deserve strong public policies.  MCASA continues to advocate for survivors and the programs that serve them. After long and partisan delays, the US Congress finally reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act.  I was honored to represent MCASA at the White House to see President Obama sign this important legislation into law. Maryland’s legislative session ended on Monday and MCASA has been tracking over 50 bills.  After years of advocacy, the Human Trafficking Asset Forfeiture bill passed and we will have an important new tool to fight sex trafficking.  Other successes include bills

We look to our legal system to help prevent sexual violence. Criminal laws against rape, human trafficking, child sexual abuse, and other sex crimes are seen as deterrents to violence and sources of justice for survivors. But other aspects of the law are just as important to preventing and responding to sexual violence. Civil laws can also provide protection, choice, and justice. This issue includes articles by three legislators about their proposals to help respond to sexual violence through changes in our civil laws. Delegate Kathleen Dumais writes about Human Trafficking and how to help stop it by requiring traffickers

In today’s edition of Frontline, we celebrate how far MCASA and the movement against sexual violence has come since 30 years ago. Make sure you sign up to receive Frontline (our quarterly e-newsletter) in your inbox here. If you missed it, you can read all six articles below. Reports from each of our programs on the highlights of years past and what’s to come: MCASA Women of Color Network, founded 2001 (Link) Sexual Assault Response Systems, founded 2002 (Link) Sexual Assault Legal Institute, founded 2003 (Link) Member Program Spotlight: Five Questions with Heartly House (Link) A  look

  JANUARY 19, 2012 A recent, personal experience reaffirmed for me the importance of taking action when you think there’s even a possibility that someone is at risk. I think we all asked the same question after news of the indictments against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky broke:  How could so many people have stood by and not protected those children? Like many advocates working in the field, I believe in primary prevention. But until we are able to fully fund and develop effective prevention campaigns, we find ourselves continuing to provide services to survivors

  MAY 8, 2012 As the debate over the Violence Against Women Act moves to the House, we are reminded daily about what’s at stake — the care and well-being of tens of thousands of sexual assault survivors across our state. We salute the state’s 17 rape crisis and recovery centers and each of you working in the field for your work — providing compassionate, quality care to the survivors that you serve. The articles offered in this quarter’s edition of Frontline, focus on caring for survivors of sexual assault — from legal, systemic and very personal

JULY 13, 2012 I am reminded too often in this position that stereotypes around sexual assault still persist. Vulnerable populations are marginalized by perceptions that sexual assault doesn’t happen to them. Too many believe that rape and sexual abuse don’t happen in their community – not their campus, not their group, not their family, not their church. Yet with hundred of thousands of survivors of sexual violence living in Maryland, you and I know that it does happen in every community, across every class and race and gender. The invisibility of these survivors enables the epidemic to continue.