Applying the Institutional Analysis Model to Sexual Assault Criminal Cases

Institutional Analysis (IA) tools developed by Praxis are designed for practitioners and advocates to work side by side to analyze policies, case files, and case processing steps to identify concrete points of change that can improve outcomes for survivors of violence against women. The Praxis IA method helps a team analyze how the day-to-day work practices of practitioners are organized to either centralize or marginalize attention to the needs of survivors and accountability of offenders. The method has been applied to a range of institutional processes such as domestic violence criminal cases, child protection, supervised visitation and exchange centers, family court, and custody determinations. A handful of communities have recently used the IA Model to examine how their criminal legal system processes sexual assault cases. These teams have made important adaptations to account for SANE programs, campus responses, strategies for victim input, and accountability of perpetrators. This webinar will provide an overview of the Institutional Analysis Model with a focus on key adaptations a team considers when this method is applied to sexual assault criminal cases.