Special Victims Unit (SVU)

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Special Victims When most of us hear about special victims we refer to the Law and Order Special Victims Unit (SVU). The Special Victims Unit (SVU) is the name of a specialized division within some police departments. The detectives in this division typically investigate crimes involving sexual assault, the very young, or the very elderly, as well as any crime loosely connected with any of the three. The New York City Police Department Special Victims Squad investigates sex crimes. It is housed in separate Borough Patrols (i.e. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens). The Special Victims Squad only investigates the following types of cases: 1. Any child under 13 years of age who is the victim of any sex crime or attempted sex crime 2. Any child under 11 years of age who is the victim of abuse by a parent or person legally responsible for the care of the child 3. Any victim of rape (all degrees) or attempted rape (all degrees) 4. Any victim of Criminal Sexual Act (all degrees) or Attempted Criminal Sexual Act (all degrees) 5. Victims of Aggravated Sexual Abuse (all degrees) 6. Victims of Sexual…show more content…
Recognizing this, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. This landmark legislation established the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The goal of the RPE program is to strengthen sexual violence prevention efforts. It operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and six U.S. territories (Basile, 2003). Prevention requires understanding the circumstances and factors that influence violence. CDC uses a four-level, social ecological model to better explain sexual violence and potential strategies for prevention. This model considers the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors, and allows us to address risk and protective factors from multiple
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