It is about 3 months ago that I had the honor of providing two presentations at a conference for a group of dedicated soldiers and contract personnel who are part of the US Army SHARP (Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Prevention) team in Europe. http://www.sexualassault.army.mil/what_is_harassment.aspx
The conference was held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The presentations I provided were rooted in my 30 plus years of work in the area of preventing sexual violence, bullying and murder. The first presentation addressed Pathways to Sexually Inappropriate Behavior. Emphasizing the value of understanding the contribution of personality in the understanding of different pathways and justification systems for abuse. Further, my team research was integrated as it addressed the cyber contributions to sexual and other forms of violence. Thus, we examined the frequency of revenge porn, the increasing frequency of sexting, the impact of the new hookup apps and more. One of the members of the team who assisted in the gathering of resources was Dr. Jessica Mueller, a former graduate student of mine.
One the second day, 2 more topics were covered. First, we explored the frequency of Counterintuitive Behaviors in those Assaulted. I have shared this type of information with juries and the media to assist in understanding what appears to be paradoxical behavior. Janne Archambault, the executive director of EVAWI (End Violence Against Women International) has developed excellent resources for law enforcement and victim service providers. I recommended EVAWI’s conference soon to be taken place in April, 2019 in San Diego, and then in Washington D.C. the following year. Below are two articles and a video which was part of the references provided on this topic: http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/the-effect-of-cultural-bias-on-the-investigation/https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/improvingSAInvest_0.pdf
Lightly touched upon was the neurobiology of trauma. National Institute of Justice discusses it in more depth through the following link: https://nij.gov/multimedia/presenter/presenter-campbell/Pages/welcome.aspx I informed the participants at the time that they needed to anticipate that the Kavanaugh hearings and whatever happened in the proceedings including Dr. Ford’s testimony would impact victims.
Finally, I discussed false victimization presentations and how these rare cases might be identified. This was an incredible interactive experience to join with Europe SHARP displaying US Army Proud and Strong.
