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U.S. Army
Russell W. Strand, chief in the education and training division at the Army's Military Police School, gives a presentation about suspect behavior to a special unit victims course at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri.
As the military wrestles with an alarming number of sexual assaults — an issue former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called "an affront to the basic American values we defend" — the Department of Defense has adopted a novel technique that fundamentally changes the way investigations are handled.
Hundreds of investigators and prosecutors across all military branches have participated in a special victims unit course at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri that focuses on a unique forensic interviewing technique designed to elicit detailed descriptions of an attack.
With traditional methods, this “psychophysiological” evidence has previously been difficult to obtain from both the victim and suspect, but can often break open an otherwise difficult case in which there is little or no physical evidence.
The technique was developed by Russell W. Strand, a former special agent with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division and current chief in the education and training division at the Army’s Military Police School. Strand began evaluating sexual assault training in 2004 as numerous reports of rape in combat zones and at home became public.
He soon discovered that law enforcement, both military and civilian, expected victims to recount their trauma blow by blow, with precise details that could convince any skeptical jury or judge.
That may seem like conventional wisdom, but Strand frequently found victims rarely had such clarity. He consulted experts, immersed himself in neurobiological research, and found that the expectation doesn’t align with the science of trauma and memory.
In the midst of an assault, the brain does not capture every moment of trauma as if it were recording a film. The pre-frontal cortex can "shut down" or become severely impaired. As a result, many victims can’t provide a contextual or linear account of the event, but fragmentary memories, perhaps the tone of the suspect's voice or, when a sense of defeat has set in, a recollection of the way a lamp looked as she or he was being assaulted. In interviews with investigators, Strand said, the lack of a victim’s ability to recall specifics quickly sowed doubt.
“We started looking at that (research) and started looking at what kind of evidence we gather in a sexual assault,” Strand said. “We weren’t collecting the right data.”
Start with memories, not at the beginning
Strand’s technique, which he has termed the forensic experiential trauma interview (FETI), begins with an investigator expressing empathy toward the victim in order to establish trust. What comes next is not a set of rapid-fire questions about the assault. Strand believes that approach, long used by law enforcement, pressures and confuses the victim. Instead, investigators are trained to simply ask what the victim is able to remember about the experience.
Asking the victim to “start at the beginning” — another hallmark of traditional police work — forces the victim to try to retrieve memories that may not have been encoded in the first place, which can lead to inaccurate or distorted recollections. Some victims may then doubt the memories they do have while investigators wonder if he or she is making up the assault.
What’s more important, according to Strand, is eliciting the victim’s sensory memories, which helps to create a three-dimensional picture of the attack. It also allows the victim to relate the experience in a way that makes sense and yields vital information that can be presented to a jury.
Dr. Jim Hopper, a clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, says Strand is teaching good clinical skills for interviewing traumatized people, adapted for an investigative context. Hopper is a guest lecturer for the course, and teaches the effects of sexual assault on the brain.
Lori Jones, a civilian special agent stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, said that once she was trained in the interviewing technique, she was able to collect much better evidence. If a victim describes feeling “frozen” during an attack, for example, Jones is able to understand that as tonic immobility, a physiological response to terror or trauma that often leaves a person numb, starring in a fixed or unfocused manner and unable to move or cry out.
The interview technique can also lead to unwitting admissions of guilt by attackers. When asked to describe a victim's behavior, suspects and victims have recounted the same details, Jones said.
“One of the biggest blessings in FETI has been being able to take forward an investigation with no tangible evidence,” said Jones. “I have the ability to take this to my supervisor and say, ‘This is what the victim is articulating, these were the things she felt her body doing ... and he saw her doing what she was doing.’”
This critical information has helped Jones educate commanders and prosecutors who falsely assume that a victim’s lack of resistance or inability to immediately call the police, for example, is evidence of lying.
Joanne Archambault, a former investigator and executive director of the nonprofit training, education and policy organization End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI), said that evidence gathered by techniques like FETI are essential in conducting a thorough investigation. The interview is a "big piece of the puzzle" that helps an agent corroborate a victim's account.
"Victims are much more likely to talk to us when they’re being given an opportunity to provide a narrative in their own terms," Archambault said. "You can’t get to prosecution and conviction without that."
'Visionary' technique
There are other investigation techniques that attempt to obtain sensory details from victims, but integrating scientific research on how a victim's brain responds to trauma is a unique element that has won Strand accolades. Last year, EVAWI gave Strand its Visionary Award.
Archambault, who investigated or supervised 10,000 sexual assault cases at the San Diego Police Department before retiring in 2002, said that law enforcement often has little or no training in interviewing victims of traumatic crimes. As a result, the experience can feel like an interrogation. She has observed a FETI training class, which Strand also teaches to civilian police departments, and says the focus on about trauma and its effect on memory is novel.
“In a nutshell,” she said, “he’s been dedicated to making improvements in a culture.”
The struggle to understand and address sexual assaults in the military has been very public. Last week, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee excoriated military leaders for permitting an environment that enables sexual assault.
In 2011, 3,192 sexual assault reports were filed, but the Department of Defense says the number is closer to 19,000 based on anonymous surveys of active-duty service members conducted in 2010. Of the 3,192 reports, only cases on 1,518 subjects were brought forward for disciplinary review.
The Army tracks the number of cases brought forward by prosecutors; anecdotally, Jones said it appears FETI has helped increase this number, but the Army's Criminal Investigation Command did not have those statistics readily available. Those familiar with the technique are hopeful that it is changing pervasive attitudes and assumptions about victim behavior.
In a statement to NBC News, Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., who chairs a caucus on military sexual assault, called FETI a “step toward more successful investigations and prosecutions.”
The Department of Defense has incorporated the course as part of its multi-pronged approach to prevent sexual assault in the military. "When one does occur, effective processes and trained professionals must be in place to support victims and ensure delivery of justice," Cynthia O. Smith, a spokeswoman for the DoD, told NBC News.
Since 2009, 721 special agents and prosecutors from every branch of the military have attended the training. Another 315 are scheduled to complete the course by the end of this September, and DoD has funded more than 400 seats at the course through fiscal year 2017.
Strand says he and his team encountered some early resistance from investigators accustomed to the traditional interviewing technique, but that dissent has since ebbed.
“We’re over the (point) where more people get it than don’t,” he said.
Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter based in the Bay Area.
Related:
- Senate panel members suggest overhaul of military justice system
- Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
- Civil Rights Commission urged to order audit of military sex-assault cases
- Reported sex assaults leap 23 percent at US military academies
- Sex-assault victims in military say brass often ignore pleas for justice
Leave a Comment:
Knowing what I do about the army, I'm guessing the best suggestion they came up with for improving their investigation techniques was to dress the "show me" doll in camo fatigues.
This is a joke. NCIS does everything to help the rapist not the victims. They have been training troops for years on sexual assault and it's getting worse not better. Which means they are enlisting rapist or our troops are idiots. Since most have drug waivers and criminal records in the marines it's both.
The US military has a higher sexual assault rate than the rape capital of the world. They need to hold the commands accountable and rapist and start putting them all in jail and dishonorably discharging them.
theusmarinesrapecom
Why bother with all this when a General can just wave his magic wand and make it all go away after the conviction...
This doesn't mean a thing as long as a three star General can acquit his drinking buddies after a judge and jury find them guilty of rape or assault on a woman.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Since the Armed Forces has to use volunteers and those same volunteers come from the civilian world they often bring the worst traits of the civilian world with them, no discipline, no honor, no sense of right and wrong,etc.
So for rapist, liars, drunks and crooks to enter the military its gonna happen so making sure these low lifes get discovered and thrown out is important, but with the Armed Forces suddenly taken over with this Progressive PC mindset and the old proven rules thrown out is a sign of the sickness that left wingers have caused.
When there are no rules then how can there be any crimes, when you make the word no mean maybe then you ask for bad things to happen.
Joey...WTF are you talking about? Do you know any thing at all about the military? This isn't "Tour of Duty 3". Rapists, liars, drunks and crooks have been an unfortunate part of the military since man first sharpened a stick and poked his neighbors eye out. This isn't something new and it sure as hell isn't Progressive PC mindset. Some of the biggest perverts I ever met in the US military were "hard drinking rednecks"...not real progressive, know what I mean? You want to know about the"the old proven rules"? Young men and women have been raped by drill instructors and other perverts for a very long time indeed. The rule was don't report it or you end up getting beat half to death or worse.
You know absolutely nothing!
This is just foolish public relations on the part of the military. The military simply has a belief than any woman who refuses a service member's advances or files a rape complaint is obviously a lesbian and must be discharged immediately. It was done that way prior to Don't Ask Don't Tell. Ask John McCain. In his last training command four female students attempted to file charges of rape and/or sexual harrassment against him. All four were immediately discharged as lesbians. The military supported their discharge by pointing to the undisputed fact that they refused McCain's advances as proof positive that they were lesbians. Remember Tailhook?
And during DADT, women who resisted sexual advances or tried to report rapes were still discharged as lesbians. Now the issue had morphed a little. Now the resisting of the advances (usually by a superior) was now considered "flaunting" lesbianness and removed the protections of DADT and the woman was discharged anyway.
And it still operates that way. It works that way from the top brass --- remember Gens Petreus and Allen? And it works that way right down to drill sergeants. We have the most scandals where the women are the most vulnerable --- in training situations, and especially in boot camp and tech school situations. And let's not forget the military academies.
And what do you expect in an organization that is composed mainly of testosterone-poisoned young men under 26, the general age at which the forebrain is considered mature. (The forebrain is that part that governs impulse control.) And there seems, in this particular issue, to be little to no adult supervision in the military.
Some little bit of public relations that appears to consist largely of wearing a tattered shirt that says "Child Molester" on it isn't going to change the equation not even a little bit. You will never teach an interviewer to respect women except when the person already respects women.
No = No. Continuing after No = Rape. There are no exceptions. I would think that if the lesbian "defense" is used by an accused service member, that member should be prepared to prove in court that a) the woman is lesbian and b) that this is relevant. And a zero-tolerance policy should cause the discharge of any member who is found to have committed sexual harrassment or rape in any form or degree.
No co-ed dorms, no booze on base and basic security measure that most college campuses have like cameras and panic buttons. The last three AF bases we were at the dorms had poor lighting, no security cameras, kids banging each other left and right and if you caught a breeze coming from the dorms on a Friday night you, could smell the Bacardi and Mikes hard lemonade.
The FETI technique was used in my rape investigation in the military and the allegations were sustained. The investigation is not the problem. My perpetrator was allowed to resign and will receive a full retirement. The "good ole boy" network at its finest! Take the prosecution authority out of the chain of command.
I read somewhere that approximately 30% of female military personnel are sexually assaulted. I don't know if that is true or not. It sounded pretty high.
Yes it is high but a conservative estimate world wide is one third of all women have experienced rape. That is a conservative estimate.
Man there are some really disgusting comments on this thread. Fortunately, not everyone on this thread is a psychopath.
Rape is a crime and while educating our men in the military will help it will not be the whole solution.
When you put men in dangerous situations day in and day out and combine that with men going without the solace of female warmth companionship and yes sex it becomes difficult for males to stay focused and act in appropriate ways around female soldiers. Can they do it? Yes they can.
However, soldiers should have more frequent furloughs to unwind and reconnect with their loved ones girl friends and wives. They also need the time necessary to unwind with their buddies and relax in a safe zone completely away from the enemy.
The govt is squeezing our men until some of them crack. Our leaders are choosing to over work and over deploy our soldiers. They are burning them out and throwing them away. Just to throw some half measure training program at them as some cure all for the problem shows the depth of the selfish behavior that our political leaders have shown.
Stop burning out our finest men and women. They need rest and time to repair before they go back into the war zone. They need more frequent breaks from the stress of war.
Every "technique" that makes getting convictions easier also makes it easier to convict innocent people.
This "FETI" reeks of anti-male bias. Men have feelings and emotions, too. Unless one of these is the intent to commit a crime, any conviction for sexual assault would be against our concept of justice.
Too "shocked and numbed" to raise the tiniest cry of protest? What kind of soldier are you, hon?
Kind of heard to raise the tiniest of cry when it is a gang rape and someone has gaged your or the guy has a knife at your throat or a gun to your head. But sometimes the guy knocks a woman in the head so hard that she is in addled state. Before she can recover enough to fight back he has her down and the crime is done. Then you have the more easily frightened women and military men in powerful positions. These men typically pick women more easily preyed upon and use intimidation to rape a woman. What kind of man are you anti female biased one?
"Intimidation" may be morally wrong, may be a violation of some part of the UCMJ but unless it carries a threat of immediate bodily harm it isn't rape.
As for those other scenarios, they are entirely a product of a diseased imagination (yours). Read the article again.
Your disgusting
And you're (note correct spelling) not from around here, I suspect.
Cyrus Shah will reign in Teheran when the false prophet Khameni is exposed and dragged down!
Damn, 12 years active duty, 9 in the reserves and I never even thought of raping a woman. Now I get here and find out it was expected of me. And that I got a drug waiver and have a criminal record to boot. Civilians suck.
Nice job Russ! Keep up the good work trying to fight a difficult battle. I know that you have nothing but the right/best intentions. You are amazing!
Here's the thing. One of the most distinct ways that a sexual assault crime investigation can be improved is by ensuring there is expertise in the collection of medical-legal forensic evidence from both the alleged victim and the suspect. According to several professional individuals in the military, as well as the most recent GAO report () military medicine has received little (if any) funding over the past 6 years for medical training/education, program development and response in the area of clinical forensics and sexual assault examination. This is despite the 2006 DOD SAPR Instruction that required military medicine to set up adequate forensic/medical care to assist in sexual assault cases.
One must wonder, how can the DoD require a military forensic/medical program without allocating funding for it? It has been 6 years, and still military medicine struggles to try to coordinate, train and supply medical/nursing experts in this field. The problem is the DoD only has so many billeted active duty nursing personnel, and each billet must have Congressional approval to be created (such as for military forensic nurses) in order to improve medical/forensic care. Why is having active duty military forensic nurses important?
Military forensic nurses (either Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners/SANEs or Forensic Nurse Examiners/FNE's) have expertise in clinical forensics as well as in military culture. They understand military language, behaviors and the military courtroom. Unfortunately, most of the military forensic nurses are self trained and serve as SANEs or FNEs only as a collateral duty (an extra duty/not their primary duty). The spend their off hours developing training programs or responding to sexual assault cases. Many military hospitals in the United States do not do their own forensic exams, but instead send victims to outside civilian services. This is a problem in that civilians are typically not familiar with military culture and do not have access to the patient's electronic medical record nor the referral system that the military medical personnel automatically use for referrals to behavior/mental health, etc.. Because of outsourcing, active duty military medical personnel do not receive adequate practice in performing clinical forensic exams while stationed in the U.S., and later they are expected to perform clinical forensic skills when sent overseas or on deployment. It's important to understand that expertise in clinical forensics is not something one learns in a day. Or even in a week. It requires constant education, training and practice. It is a Master's to Post-Masters level training, and there are both civilian and military forensic nurses across the U.S. who have advanced nursing/clinical forensic education equivalent to the level of a specialized nurse practitioner.
In some military cases, investigators request medical personnel to only collect forensic evidence from the victim and they do not request evidence collection from the suspect. Some investigators assume that the only forensic evidence a suspect will yield is DNA, which supposedly only shows that the suspect was in close proximity and/or touching the victim. The truth is that the examination of a suspect can yield several aspects of beneficial evidence, but the courtroom can't show what it doesn't have. As a result, there are cases where there is not enough evidence for a conviction of the suspect, and he or she is acquitted of the allegation of the crime.
Military forensic nurses are extremely useful, relevant and necessary in the examination of both victims and suspects in sexual assault cases. They can assist investigators and prosecutors in determining what evidence to test from the sexual assault exam kit, because when cases go to court the only evidence presented to the courtroom is what the investigators request to be tested. Sometimes, there's not enough of the collected evidence requested to be tested (maybe, out of the entire kit, only DNA from underwear is tested) and then the results of other evidence is lacking in the courtroom. Military SANEs or FNE's can serve as expert witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense and serve as peer expert witnesses, ensuring that only logical, sound and evidence based information is heard by the courtroom. Military SANE's and FNE's maintain objectivity in a case, present medical-legal information while staying up-to-date with the latest clinical forensic research, and they can educate the courtroom concerning medical forensic/biologic myths and biases while providing scientifically researched information.
If people want to improve courtroom justice of sexual assault cases in the military, more time, attention and funding needs to be applied to clinical forensics in military medicine/nursing. It is in this area that great strides need to be made. I hope that in the future we will see some positive change and that it won't take another 6 years before that change happens.
*Disclaimer: The comment above is that of the individual only, and does not reflect or imply the position, philosophy or thought of the DoD, US Navy or any other government entity.
DoD Safe Helpline (safehelpline.org) is a useful resource for military survivors of sexual assault seeking support. Service members can talk to someone anonymously, and at no charge from anywhere in the world, 24/7.