Commission on the Standardization of the Collection of Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations
Minutes of the Meeting of June 18, 2018
Office of the Chief State's
Attorney
Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Attendance: Maureen Platt, Chair, Marielle Daniels, Candida Fusco, Kristin Sasinouski, Joy Reho, Jim Kenny, Brian Narkewicz, Linda Cimino, Denise Covington, Laura Cordes, Karen Jubanyik, M.D. (by phone conference).
The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.
The minutes of the March 19, 2018, meeting were reviewed and approved. (Motion - Narkewicz / Second - Kerry (Daniels abstained).
Linda Cimino gave the Bill Paying Subcommittee report. She stated that it is anticipated that the fee structure will remain the same as last year. She reported that as of June 1, 2018, it appears that there will be an increase over last year in the amount of bills submitted by health care facilities, but that the total should still be within the budgeted amount.
Denise Covington gave the report on the Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) program. She reported as of June, the SAFE program has a response rate of 84.5 percent (228 times activations with 177 responses). The group discussed the importance of continuing to train new SAFES.
Two trainings were recently held at the Connecticut Forensic Laboratory on June 4th and June 8th. It was reported that the trainings were very well received with 27 hospitals sending at least one representative. A total of 75 people attended including 69 health care professionals.
There was a report from the subcommittee regarding the need for consent by minor victims of sexual assault for forensic examinations. Some possible language has been suggested. It was decided that the committee should meet again before the next Commission meeting to continue working on this issue.
Under new business, Laura Cordes reported on the newly enacted Public Act 18-83 (Senate Bill 17). This new law requires that the Commission enact guidelines before October 1, 2018, to track the CT-100 kits and to provide information to victims of sexual assault regarding the testing of his/her sexual assault kit. It was agreed that a subcommittee should be formed to suggest guidelines to presented to the Commission regarding the issue of what information should be made available to survivors of sexual assault concerning the processing of CT-100 kits. Laura Cordes offered to chair this subcommittee. Jim Kenny, Candida Fusco, Linda Cimino, Kristin Sasinouski and a yet to be named prosecutor will sit on this subcommittee.
There was a motion to adjourn at 4:00 p.m. (Motion - Cordes/ Second - Kenney.
The next meeting of the Commission will be on September 13, 2018.