Sexual Assault
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards apply to confinement facilities nationwide, providing one of the best mechanisms to build a culture of safety, dignity, and accountability behind bars. The challenge today involves helping thousands of prisons, jails, and juvenile lock-ups across the country comply with the standards.
To do that, Vera partners with the National PREA Resource Center and also runs independent projects. Recent work focuses on the use of sexual assault response teams and on youth facilities, where rates of violence can be especially high. Nationwide, nearly 10 percent of young people are sexually abused within the first year of being detained, and in some juvenile facilities the prevalence rates reach 36 percent.
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Vera is working with the National PREA Resource Center (PRC) to provide tools and information to the corrections field on how to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual assault in confinement settings.
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