Discuss, consider and take appropriate action on a Resolution authorizing the District Attorney to submit an application to the Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office (PSO) for a Violence Against Women Justice and Training Program, FY2022 Project, committing to provide all applicable matching funds, designating the District Attorney as the official authorized to apply for the grant, and designating the Williamson County Judge, with approval of the Williamson County Commissioner’s Court, as the official authorized to accept, reject, alter, or terminate the grant, and providing assurance that, in the event of loss or misuse of grant funds Williamson County will return all funds to PSO.

The purpose of the grant is to fund projects that promote a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to improve the justice system’s response to violent crimes against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.  The District Attorney’s proposes to fund a prosecutor position to establish a Special Victims Unit.

In 2018, the District Attorney received a position for a prosecutor, and in 2019 an investigator position was added, to assist with quality intake of special victim crimes.  Special victim crimes include physical and sexual abuse of children, adult sexual assault (intimate partner) and family violence.   Within one year the number of child abuse cases brought to our office more than doubled.

In addition to the general backlog of all types of cases resulting from the pandemic, the incidents of special victim crimes in over the last ten months has dramatically increased.  As a result of schools closing and children spending an increased amount of time on the internet, sexual offenses against children increased from 68 cases to 87, and other criminal offenses against children increased from 158 to 164, compared to the same time in 2019. our numbers at the District Attorney’s Office have demonstrated a 28% increase in child sexual abuse cases during the months of March through December 2020, verses that same time period in 2019. 

The statistics are not better for adult special victims.  Hope Alliance, Williamson County’s Crisis Center, has reported a 45% increase in sexual assault reports between October and December 2020, over those same months in 2019.  The District Attorney has seen a 17% increase in adult sexual assault cases during this same time period.  Although it is common for there to be a lag time of several months between a report and a case being filed, it is reasonable to expect a further increase in the number of sexual assault cases resulting from the increase in reports. 

The District Attorney’s Special Victim Unit (SVU) will model vertical prosecution of special victim crimes, meaning that the SVU prosecutor will handle the cases from intake through final disposition.  The proposed project includes hiring a prosecutor who will specialize in handling cases involving violence against women and intimate partner violence. The prosecutor will also: facilitate community outreach, education, and awareness to promote crime prevention and early intervention efforts; provide training to many different entities including the District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement, Department of Family and Protective Services, advocacy groups and other members of the public; attend meetings and participate in case reviews with community stakeholders to encourage community collaboration; partner with law enforcement agencies at the beginning of the investigation and then prosecute the case in the courtroom thereby serving a dual purpose of educating law enforcement as well as other prosecutors.

Adult sexual assault cases have historically been under reported, under investigated and under prosecuted.  This project would assist in turning the tide by providing training to law enforcement so they may build up their investigations. The prosecutor would work with law enforcement in preparing the case for filing.  Then, the prosecutor would handle each case thereby being a consistent person in the sexual assault survivor’s journey through the criminal justice system.  The goal of this type of vertical prosecution is to serve the victims of sexually violent offenses and the research supports this type of vertical prosecution as a best practice.

Special victim crimes are extremely time and resource intensive.  Once the SVU prosecutor is in place to handle adult special victim crimes, the existing intake prosecutor will have more time and resources to possibly allow for vertical prosecution of crimes against children.  Establishing the SVU is an important next step in equipping the District Attorney with the resources necessary to do justice by professional investigation and prosecution of special victim crimes.
Thank you for considering this request.
Attachments:
   Grants Management Request Questionnaire
   Grant Funding Announcement