Report Title:

Sexual Assault; Nurse Examiner

Description:

Makes appropriation for a pilot project establishing a program for sexual assault nurse examiners to be administered through the department of the attorney general and to be implemented through the county police departments.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2314

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making an appropriation for a sexual assault nurse examiners program.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. In Hilo in 1995, a woman reported to police that she was a victim of sexual assault and was brought to Hilo Medical Center for a forensic medical examination and evidence collection. The victim remained in the emergency room waiting while a search was undertaken to locate a physician willing to perform the forensic examination. After waiting six hours, the victim finally went home without a forensic examination.

To prevent this from reoccurring, a team of dedicated professionals collaborated and came to the conclusion that a Sexual Assault Response Team model that includes sexual assault nurse examiners, which had been successfully implemented in communities in Texas, California, and elsewhere on the mainland, would best fit the needs of our community. In the sexual assault response team model, a sexual assault response team comprised of a specially trained police detective, victim advocate, and the sexual assault nurse examiner responds to all sexual assault crimes.

A sexual assault response team program was initiated in June 1995, in Hawaii county with forty hours of specialized training provided by Forensic Nursing Services from Santa Cruz, California. The training included anatomy and physiology of adult sexual response, identification and mechanisms of injury to genitalia, forensic procedures for evidence collection and preservation and forensic use of colposcopic photographs, behavior-oriented interviewing of suspects, courtroom testimony and development of protocols. The nurses completed an additional forty-hour preceptorship and, upon completion and skills testing, became certified sexual assault nurse examiners. An additional thirty-two hours of training was provided in August 1995, regarding forensic examination and criminal investigation in the sexual assault and abuse of children. Immediately upon completion of the sexual assault response team or sexual assault nurse examiner training, a volunteer coordinator administered the program while looking for grant funds. During these three years, a call-out procedure and the Hawaii county's formal protocol for response to sexual assault crimes were established. After three years, grant funding was obtained from the attorney general's office and a sexual assault nurse examiner coordinator was hired and placed in the Hawaii county police department. In 1995, Hawaii county became the first county in the State to offer round-the-clock sexual assault response team with a sexual assault nurse examiner in response to sexual assault crimes.

In 2001, Hawaii county did fifty-six sexual assault nurse examiner examinations (twenty-nine juvenile, twenty-seven adults). In 2002, forty-three exams were done by sexual assault nurse examiners (twenty-three juvenile, twenty adults) and in 2003, fifty-two exams were done by sexual assault nurse examiners (thirty-three juveniles, nineteen adults).

The success of the sexual assault response team and sexual assault nurse examiner program has been clearly demonstrated over the eight-plus years by the significant increase of reported sexual assault crimes and in marked increases in plea bargains and convictions of sexual assault offenders. In order to concentrate efforts toward protection of victims who are predominately women and children and to hold offenders accountable, both the Hawaii county police department and the Hawaii county office of the prosecuting attorney have subsequently established specialized units for handling sexual assault and abuse crimes. As a direct result of the sexual assault response team and sexual assault nurse examiner program, the Kapiolani Sexual Assault Treatment Center, in conjunction with the Hawaii state crime lab, both located on Oahu, and representatives from respective counties have initiated a statewide protocol for evidence collection and preservation in sexual assault crimes. Using the Hawaii county program as a model, Kauai county has now started its own sexual assault response team and sexual assault nurse examiner program. Maui county has expressed an interest to begin a similar program. The Kapiolani sexual assault treatment center has developed state protocols on sexual assault examinations based on Hawaii county's protocols.

Currently, fewer than seven hundred fifty sexual assault nurse examiner programs exist nationwide, serving less than five per cent of all sexual assault victims. The state department of health has a master contract with the Kapiolani Sexual Assault Treatment Center that provides forensic exams and response team services for Oahu sexual assault victims. Kapiolani Sexual Assault Treatment Center funds sexual assault response teams only on the neighbor islands and not for forensic exams. Having a sexual assault nurse examiner program on each neighbor island will lead to better care for sexual assault victims, more convictions, and putting more rapists behind bars.

Specifically, positive results include:

(1) More convictions: sexual assault nurse examiners are specifically trained in the latest techniques of evidence gathering, cooperating fully with police and prosecutors. Their specialized experience also makes them better witnesses in court.

(2) Better care: Rather than face a long public wait and a revolving door of emergency room caregivers, victims treated by sexual assault nurse examiners are seen immediately in private, receive care from a single attendant, and are treated with greater sensitivity.

SECTION 2. The purpose of this Act is to fund a pilot project for the establishment of a sexual assault nurse examiner program for forensic examinations of victims of sexual assault and abuse in the State of Hawaii. At present, only the neighbor islands need a funded program; the island of Oahu already receives sexual assault nurse examiner services supported by state funding.

SECTION 3. (a) The department of the attorney general shall administer a pilot project for the establishment within the department, for administrative purposes, a program entitled the sexual assault nurse examiner program, for forensic examinations of victims of sexual assault and abuse in Hawaii.

(b) The governor shall appoint a coordinator for the sexual assault nurse examiner program who shall serve without compensation and who shall implement the program and create written protocol to effectuate the purpose of the program. The coordinator's duties shall encompass the following areas:

(1) Managerial:

(A) Recruitment of registered nurses who are willing to become sexual assault nurse examiners;

(B) Training of sexual assault nurse examiners and law enforcement personnel;

(c) Retention of sexual assault nurse examiners;

(D) Certification of sexual assault nurse examiners;

(E) Data tracking;

(F) Quality assurance;

(G) Schedule development;

(H) Case tracking;

(I) Case reviews; and

(J) Police recruit training.

(2) Clinical nursing:

(A) Sexual assault forensic examinations;

(B) Sexual assault forensic examinations postmortem;

(C) Consultation for child death reviews; and

(3) Testifying in court.

(c) The sexual assault nurse examiner program is to be implemented through the county police departments. Sexual assault forensic examinations are to be required, as part of the program, to be conducted within three hours after reports to police of sexual assaults. The sexual assault nurse examiner program may also provide forensic examinations to domestic violence victims.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general fund the sum of $240,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004–2005 for the implementation of the program; the amount appropriated shall be divided equally between Hawaii county, Kaui county, and Maui county.

The department of the attorney general shall expend the sum appropriated for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

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