There is a growing awareness of the role that biased investigations and “tunnel vision” play in causing wrongful convictions. 

Such investigative biases don’t occur spontaneously. Increasingly, they are the result of training programs that go by names such as “Start By Believing,” “Victim-Centered,” and “Trauma Informed.” These guilt-presuming methods instruct investigators to start with a “presumption of merit,” seek to “corroborate the victim’s account,” and even to write the investigative report using the “language of non-consensual sex.”

Next Thursday, May 29, the DOJ Office of Victims of Crime will be holding an online presentation on Law Enforcement Response: Approaching Your Work with a Trauma-Informed Lens: https://protect2.fireeye.com/url?k=77c064d5-2b956dc6-77c055ea-0cc47adb5650-0d7053e23821d8d0&u=https://www.ovcttac.gov/ovcttac_assets/eblast/ExpertQA-Eblast-May-2019.HTML

In response, the Center for Prosecutor Integrity is issuing a press release, attached. Please contact OVC director, Darlene Hutchinson Biehl, and urge her to cancel the May 29 seminar: darlene.l.hutchinson@ojp.usdoj.gov