You may recall that the Association of Title IX Administrators -- ATIXA for short -- recently issued a blistering critique of trauma-informed investigations, saying such approaches lack an adequate scientific basis.

Now, one of the leading advocates for trauma-informed investigations has responded. End Violence Against Women International issued a response, "Statement on Trauma-Informed Responses to Sexual Assault", that makes this admission: 

"we agree with ATIXA that the scientific literature is currently being
misinterpreted and misapplied in some trainings, and this can yield inaccuracies and inappropriate conclusions during the course of a sexual assault investigation."

Even more startling, the EVAWI document reaches this unexpected conclusion: "Only with a thorough, professional, and unbiased investigation will those questions be answered."

Unbiased?

For the past several years, EVAWI has been all about biasing criminal and campus investigators to "Start By Believing," which means making sure the incident does “not look like a consensual sexual experience” and focusing on witness statements that serve to “corroborate the victim’s [sic] account.”

So we welcome EVAWI's promise to assure "unbiased" investigations. We will continue to monitor EVAWI's work to assure investigations are unbiased and fair to both parties.