Abstract:
In the United States, there is currently a backlog of over 250,000 sexual assault cases waiting to be analyzed in DNA crime laboratories. The delay in the analysis of DNA evidence causes delays in criminal prosecution and adds to the emotional trauma experienced by a victim of sexual assault. However, there are also communication problems that exist within the other sexual assault agencies. In order to investigate and potentially solve these problems, Dr. John McKillip and the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry worked with twelve students from a multitude of disciplines to create a documentary about the current state of the sexual assault casework process in Indiana. The following is my account of the tasks I completed during the "State of Assault" seminar. These tasks were writing a Ball State University Institutional Review Board protocol, finding existing research on DNA backlog, helping create interview questions, designing a website, writing an abstract, background and bibliography for a research poster, and editing the metafilm. A copy of each item I worked on can be found at the end of my thesis.
