Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Implementation and Collaborative Process: What Works Best for the Criminal Justice System?

Historically, community services for sexual assault victims have been uncoordinated and inadequate (Martin, 2005). Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) were created to coordinate efforts of the legal, medical, and mental health systems, and rape crisis centers, in order to improve victims’ help-seeking experiences and legal outcomes. SARTs are espoused as best practice and have been adopted widely across the U.S. (DOJ, 2013; Ledray, 2001). Descriptive research (using convenience sampling) suggests that how SARTs are structured varies from community to community (Zajac, 2006). However, studies have not yet examined how differences in SARTs’ structure relate to their effectiveness (Greeson & Campbell, 2013).