On Tuesday, December 15, 2015, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced new guidance from the Justice Department designed to help law enforcement agencies prevent gender bias in their response to sexual assault and domestic violence. The guidance, “Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence,” serves two key purposes. First, it aims to examine how gender bias can undermine the response of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to sexual assault and domestic violence. Second, it provides a set of basic principles that – if integrated into LEAs’ policies, trainings and practices – will help ensure that gender bias, either intentionally or unintentionally, does not undermine efforts to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable. The press release, guidance, fact sheet, and list of resources is available at: http://www.justice.gov/ovw/identifying-and-preventing-gender-bias.
Press Release Guidance Fact Sheet
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) wrote an article on this recently released guidance.