The research and evaluation (r & e) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(b)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct…

This Project Grant award of $395,656 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) under the OVW Research and Evaluation (R&E) Program (CFDA 16.026) supports a study to identify promising practices for addressing sexual violence in carceral settings. The Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, will conduct a secondary analysis of existing data sources, including perspectives from over 600 people and 11 data sources representing victim service providers, incarcerated individuals, PREA auditors, and correctional staff nationwide. The key objectives are to: 1) explore strengths and challenges in PREA implementation; 2) elucidate PREA practices that increase safe access to reporting, justice, and healing for incarcerated survivors; 3) identify how PREA compliance and promising practices vary by facility-level factors; and 4) describe PREA practices that advance equity for overlooked incarcerated survivor populations. The research findings will be disseminated through policy and research briefs, webinars, presentations, and open-access peer-reviewed journal articles to build practitioners' and policymakers' knowledge of effective PREA implementation.

The research and evaluation (r & e) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(b)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct evaluations of promising practices for combatting domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to research issues emerging in the field. By generating more knowledge about strategies for serving victims and holding offenders accountable, communities that benefit from violence against women act (vawa) funding will be better equipped to align their work with practices that are known to be effective, and they will be more capable of building empirical knowledge on the efficacy of new and promising ways of making communities safer. Research on the implementation and effectiveness of the prison rape elimination act (prea) is limited. Furthermore, incarcerated people face significant barriers to reporting victimization and receiving emotional support to achieve healing and justice. This study includes a secondary analysis, meaning an analysis of data that have already been collected, that aims to identify promising practices for addressing sexual violence in carceral settings. IT builds on two comprehensive datasets from previous justice department-funded projects and will gather and analyze perspectives from over 600 people and 11 data sources, representing victim service providers, incarcerated people, prea auditors, and correctional staff nationwide. Project objectives are to: 1) comprehensively explore strengths and challenges in prea implementation to address sexual violence in carceral settings; 2) elucidate prea practices identified as most promising for increasing safe access to reporting, justice, and healing for incarcerated survivors; 3) identify how prea compliance and promising practices vary by individual- and organizational-level drivers, such as size and type of correctional facility, to inform decision-making by correctional leaders; and 4) describe prea practices that advance equity for overlooked incarcerated survivor populations including those who identify as lgbtq+, are deaf or hard of hearing, have a disability, and/or have limited english proficiency. Deliverables will be policy and research briefs for practitioners, webinars and presentations for the victim services and corrections fields, and open-access peer-reviewed journal articles for the scholarly community. This study will build practitioners and policymakers knowledge of effective prea implementation and ways of addressing sexual violence in confinement.