April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and we are very excited at Helping Services and in the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Resource Center to be bringing the issue of sexual violence to the forefront in our service area. This year the national theme for SAAM is “Preventing Sexual Violence on Campus”.
As a way to promote this theme, we are excited to present Mock Sexual Assault Trials on the three College campuses located in our five county service area. The mock trials offer the audience a unique opportunity to witness the intricacies of a sexual assault trial. This includes victim and witness testimony, attorney presentation of the case, and deliberation of the jury. The twelve person jury is randomly selected from the audience and asked to listen to the case, deliberate, and return with a verdict. We end the Mock Trial with an open forum for the audience to ask questions and to facilitate a discussion among those directly involved in the trial.
We are especially fortunate to have four attorneys willing to donate their services for the Mock Trials making the experience as true to life as possible. The attorneys involved include Barrett Gipp and Bekah Krueger from Decorah, Jeremiah White from West Union, and Nathan Lein from Oelwein. We are grateful for the combined experience that they will bring to these trials.
We hope to bring the issue of Sexual Violence to the public and offer some explanation regarding why it is difficult for victims to report this crime, victim blaming that occurs during the investigation and trials, and difficulty in coming to a verdict when the issue is “he said, she said”. The mock trials involve a date rape involving alcohol use making it even more difficult to rely on witness testimonies of the events as they are presented. Each trial lasts approximately one hour with question and answer period to follow.
The trials will be open to college students and the public to attend as space allows. The trials are scheduled as follows:
April 7th—Luther College, Olin 102 at 7p.m.
April 14th—Upper Iowa University, East Cafeteria at 7p.m.
April 22nd—Northeast Iowa Community College, Wilder Auditorium at 12:20p.m.
We are hopeful that you may be able to attend one or more of these events. We often get different verdicts from each jury, so it may be insightful to attend more than one of the trials. Please feel free to contact Mindy at Helping Services if you have any questions or would like to help with these events. She can be reached at (563) 387-1720 or mmyers@helpingservices.org.
In addition to the Mock Trials, the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Resource Center will be distributing table tents with information regarding sexual violence and the use of alcohol. Watch for these in area businesses and restaurants. Thank you for your support of this and the many other programs provided by Helping Services! For more information please visit our website at www.helpingservices.org.
Mock Trials at Upper Iowa University
Mock Trials at Luther College
