Immediate Actions a Person Should Take

IV. Immediate Actions a Person Should Take

A. In the immediate aftermath of a Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence or similar event, the most important thing is for the person to get to a safe place.

B. When a feeling of safety has been achieved, the person should seek medical attention, regardless of his/her decision to report the crime to the police. It is very important for the assaulted person to seek medical attention immediately so that she/he can be screened for sexually transmitted diseases/pregnancy/date rape drugs, obtain emergency contraception, and receive treatment for any physical injuries.

1. A person who has experienced Sexual Abuse, including Sexual Assault, has the right to accept or decline any or all parts of a medical exam. However, critical evidence may be lost or missed if not collected or analyzed.

2. Valuable physical evidence can be obtained from the person who has experienced Sexual Abuse and their clothing. The person should make every effort to save anything that might contain the offender’s DNA. Therefore, the person should not, when possible:

• Bathe or shower;

• Wash his/her hands;

• Brush his/her teeth;

• Use the restroom;

• Change clothes;

• Comb hair;

• Clean up the area where the incident took place; or

• Move anything the offender may have touched.

C. Even if the person who has experienced Sexual Abuse has not yet decided to report the crime, receiving a forensic medical exam and keeping the evidence safe from damage will improve the chances that the police can access and test the stored evidence at a later date should the person who has experienced Sexual Abuse decide to prosecute.

1. Persons experiencing Sexual Discrimination or Sexual Harassment are encouraged to preserve evidence by saving text messages, instant messages, social networking pages, other communications, and keeping pictures, logs, or other copies of documents, if they have any that would be useful to investigators.