How SAFE is NYC? Sexual Assault Services in Emergency Departments

Background

Public attention was drawn to the development of Sexual Assault Examiner Programs in 1994, when Anna Quindlen described the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program in a New York Times editorial (October 19, 1994). Quindlen contrasted the Tulsa program with a negative experience reported by a rape survivor in a Brooklyn hospital. She was writing about a problem well understood by rape crisis advocates: how getting help sometimes made it worse for rape victims.

Ten years later, Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) programs, as they are known in New York, have come to national prominence as one way to accomplish the collaboration between victim advocates, the healthcare sector and the criminal justice system promoted by the Violence Against Women Act. However, it is clear that optimal medical care and forensic evidence collection still do not routinely occur in hospital emergency departments.

New York City has more EDs than any other city in the United States. Its large population and concentration of many public and private EDs present unique challenges for the provision of the best care for all sexual assault survivors. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the acute sexual assault services available through NYC emergency departments.

Methodology