The state of Utah has sexual assault rates consistently higher than the national average. Following sexual assaults, victims are advised to seek health care services with evidence collected and packaged in sexual assault kits (SAKs). This large (N=1,874), retrospective study examined rates of sexual assault kit (SAK) submissions by law enforcement (LE) to the state crime laboratory for analysis at four sites in Utah with established sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) programs on SAKs collected from 2010 to 2013. Variables of legal and extralegal characteristics in sexual assault cases were explored through GEE modeling to determine what factors predicted SAK submissions. For submitted SAKs, the length of time between the dates of assault and dates of submission were categorized and bivariate and multivariate analyses calculated to discover legal and extralegal characteristics affecting time of submission. The four study sites in Utah represented 40% of Utah LE agencies and 65% of the state’s population. Out of the 1,874 SAKs in the study, only 38.2% were submitted by LE to the state crime laboratory for analysis. When SAK submissions were examined based upon time between assaults and submission dates, 22.8% were submitted within a year of the assault and 15.4% were submitted more than a year after the assault following media and community pressure for LE agencies to submit SAKs in storage. Significant variability of SAK submission rates and the time submitted from the assault dates were found between the four sites. Site location was found to be the main determinant of whether or not SAKs were submitted. The lack of SAK submissions for analysis results in justice denied for victims and raises public safety concerns. The finding that the location in which the sexual assault occurred was the primary factor on SAK submissions represents an inequity of justice. / School of Nursing; / Nursing / PhD; / Dissertation;

This research project comprises a stage play Section 24 of the Criminal Code, and accompanying exegesis, which focuses upon the experience of a woman accessing the Criminal Justice system after she is raped. The play is in the verbatim model and draws upon court transcript, which is deconstructed to reveal the workings of Defence counsel 'storylines' and meta-narratives of gender, sexual availability and power. The exegesis investigates attitudes toward rape and rape victims perpetuated by Australian popular culture, and the way that myths about false rape complaints and 'deserving victims' continue to influence the reporting and conviction rates for rape. The thesis argues that recent reforms have yet to make an impact on the conviction rate or experience of women accessing the Justice system, because of entrenched misogyny within the system itself. Several factors contribute to widespread ignorance of the reality of our own Criminal Justice system, and the thesis proposes that a work of verbatim theatre may redress the paucity of understanding that enables the dysfunction of the current system. The paper explores the different approaches taken by Verbatim theatre practitioners and the appropriateness of the Verbatim theatre model for communicating this particular (lived) experience. Questions of ownership over one's story, and representation in that story indicate the emancipatory potential of a work. Where practitioners do not have a personal connection to their subject matter or material and access material that is already in the public domain, they may feel a greater freedom to manipulate story and character for dramatic effect, or to suit an activist agenda for change. It is shown that a playwright with a personal connection to her material and subject must address issues of ownership, ethical representation, veracity and verisimilitude when creating a piece of verbatim theatre. Preferencing the truth of the Complainant Woman's experience over the orthodoxies of the well-made play may contribute to a negative response to the work from male audiences. However, the thesis concludes that the subject of rape and its prosecution invokes a gendered response in itself, and ultimately questions the desirability of presenting a play that delivers a palatable story rather than an unpleasant truth.