The Urban Institute, in partnership with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and our project advisory partner, Just Detention International (JDI), have been funded by the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for a new project related to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
Our goal is to assess if and how a national service line could help improve compliance with the specific PREA Standards requiring that incarcerated people have
A way to report sexual abuse to an entity outside the corrections agency
Access to emotional support services from outside advocates for sexual abuse
We are looking for victim service providers who have worked with survivors who are incarcerated, and inviting you to participate in a virtual focus group with other community service providers. The group discussion will last around 90 minutes. We would love to learn your perspective about the challenges of supporting incarcerated survivors of sexual abuse and how a service line may help address those challenges. While not everyone who signs up will be chosen, we do hope to have a wide range of advocates for a diverse locations and experiences.
Our research team will keep your decision to participate confidential, and we will keep the information you share during the focus group confidential within our final report. The only exception to confidentiality is that we may be required to report if you tell us you plan to harm yourself or others in the future. Please keep in mind though that we cannot guarantee full confidentiality of what you share in the focus group because other participants will be present. Lastly, we may quote you in a final report, but any quote we use will not include your name or the name of your organization.
If you are interested in participating in the focus groups, please review the information below and fill out this form by October 3.