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What Is a SART?
To ensure justice and create a more compassionate and streamlined response, service providers must intervene in a way that speaks to the context of each victim's circumstance and respects the unique roles of the different professionals involved in responding to sexual assault. Over the years, communities have developed a team approach with just those goals in mind. Multidisciplinary teams, often called SARTs (sexual assault response teams), partner together to provide interagency, coordinated responses that make victims' needs a priority, hold offenders accountable, and promote public safety.
Sexual Assault Response Teams: Partnering for Success (DVD) Highlights the history and accomplishments of SARTs; features interviews with survivors and SART team members; describes benefits of the SART response; and highlights the progress made in serving victims and enhancing prosecution of sexual assault cases.
Core members typically include advocates, law enforcement officers, forensic medical examiners—including sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs), forensic laboratory personnel, and prosecutors.
Additional team members can include dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, correctional staff, culturally specific organization representatives, sex offender management professionals, policymakers, federal grant administrators, faith-based providers, and civil and victims' rights attorneys.
Read this section to find out more about the SART model, how SARTs help victims and responders, and why you should consider developing a SART in your community.
