Resource Library

Crime victims who are limited English proficient (LEP) or use different modes of communication such as sign language need meaningful, effective, and equal access to crime victim services and criminal justice supports. This webinar will address the barriers victims who are LEP or use different modes of communication encounter and how to enhance their access to justice in rural communities.

The Sexual Violence Justice Institute a program of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault will present on building a baseline knowledge of systems-change sexual assault response teams (SARTs). The training will also provide SARTs with the knowledge and tools for effective multidisciplinary teamwork.

Collaborative efforts are essential to end teen dating violence. While many collaborative teams and service providers were initially created with adult survivors in mind, it’s important to understand the unique needs and barriers young survivors face. This session will help collaborative teams assess readiness for working with and serving youth, and includes tools, reflection questions, and suggested protocols for collaborative, community-based efforts to address teen dating violence in rural communities. Special attention is given to meaningful integration of young people into collaborative work.

This presentation will describe a community-based participatory research project to understand rural Vermont residents’ experiences of co-occurring opioid use and intimate partner violence. This multi-stage and multi-method project involved a qualitative needs assessment with a community sample of people with lived experience of opioid use and partner violence, a community brainstorming event, the development of an online cross-training for peer recovery coaches and survivor advocates, and evaluation of the cross-training curriculum. Dr. Stone and Ms. Kinney will also discuss other challenges and opportunities related to the project and to meeting the needs of rural residents seeking safety and recovery.

Coordinated community responses (CCRs) to domestic violence have been successful over the past forty years in leveraging the criminal legal system to hold abusers accountable and send messages of help to survivors. Although some survivors have found safety, many others have, in fact, been negatively impacted by systemic intervention. In rural communities, such inequities can result when law enforcement is ill-equipped to meet the communication needs of Deaf survivors or when shelters are unprepared to meet the needs of survivors with mental illnesses. Rural CCRs need practical, concrete tools and strategies to identify and reduce systemic inequities so that ALL survivors in their communities experience increased safety, help, and support.

This online guide addresses the wide range of abuses that take place in rural communities. Statistics for homicide, sexual crimes, domestic violence, and others are provided and explained (2017).

The Rural Behavior Webinar Series provides resources and information on how to approach mental health in rural communities, and the obstacles that plague that demographic (2019).

This article examines human trafficking in rural America, providing clues for detection as well as plans of action (2018).

This webinar, presented by the National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative, explores elder abuse in Indian Country, as well as best practices to detect and investigate it (2017).

This Futures Without Violence webinar focuses on trafficking in rural areas, and how collaboration can facilitate more effective investigations and prosecution. (2016).

This article discusses obstacles to reporting sexual assault in rural areas and the need for more research concerning sexual assault in these communities (2009).

This article focuses on isolation as the core barrier facing victims of domestic violence in rural areas. The study uses evidence from several nationwide reports on rural domestic violence (2015).

This article examines the role of APS workers in rural America, the extensive problem of elder abuse and neglect, and the difficulty of investigating these crimes in rural areas (2017).

This literature review examines recent studies on rural human trafficking, and provides recommendations and implications for future research, policy, and practice (2017).

This policy brief focuses on rural survivors of domestic and sexual violence and how the characteristics of rural life have an effect on the survivor's ability to be economically secure and access safety (2013).

This paper provides rural domestic and sexual abuse service programs with possible resources and tools to effectively respond to elder abuse. Definitions of elder abuse are given, as well as ideas and perspectives for serving older victims (September 2013).

This paper focuses rural community violence and the root causes that plague so many communities. The study asserts that the lack of attention to this violence is a misperception that the violence is non-existent or less serious in rural communities (2016).

Although this study primarily takes place in Sweden, it compares the severity of IPV and the relationship between risk factors for IPV and overall risk judgments of future IPV in urban, rural, and remote areas (2018).

This article describes the unique aspects of intimate partner violence in rural populations. It also describes a simple screening tool that can be used in various settings (2014).

This paper examines the prevalence, severity, and chronicity of IPV occurring in a high-risk sample (2016).

Despite the alarming rates of IPV across the U.S., women in rural areas face obstacles that impair their ability to get help. Lack of an adequate health care and criminal justice system are barriers for these victims of domestic violence. This study examines the many challenges that rural victims face, and how to create a coordinated, systemic change in rural America (March 2015).

This Ontario-based study examines 132 domestic homicide cases to determine the differences between rural and urban risk factors (2015).