Mobile phone app gives options to survivors of sexual assault
Survivors of sexual assault have the option of using a new mobile phone application that gives the option of reporting, or not reporting their assault to law enforcement on their own terms.
I've-Been-Violated is a mobile phone application designed to protect survivors of sexual assault by letting them record video and audio evidence of themselves telling their story after an act of sexual assault has happened to them. The free app has been available for about two and a half weeks on iTunes.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. More than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault, the center states. The CMUPD campus safety report showed that in 2014, nine reports of rape were made to the Central Michigan University Police Department.
Michael Lissack, the main developer of the app, said creating testimonial evidence is important because after a sexual assault occurs, 85 percent of victims don't want to report to authorities in a timely manner. He said one of the problem victims of sexual assault face is if they have a rape kit administered, their case is automatically brought to court, regardless if they want to report it or not.
Creating testimony in an easy way on a smartphone with the app lets victims have the option of reporting their sexual assault if they choose. He said the testimony is more likely to be used as evidence in a trial.
The app has been downloaded hundreds of times since it was first available on iTunes, Lissack said, with hundreds of video recordings.
"I'm going to assume all of the videos recorded so far are of people trying it out," Lissack said.
He said no police reports have been filed from the app yet.
Lissack said he was able to have the app available for free, but is counting on funding from philanthropies and charities to keep the app available for free long term.
"We're going to have to end up having to ask for donations," he said. "But it was important to have this available for victims."
Creating the app started about a year ago, and included research conducted from a focus group.
"People should have the app on their phones in advance," Lissack said. "The last thing you want to do is create a profile and wait for a confirmation email and go through that process after the traumatic event has taken place."According to the app's website, as a legal safeguard, the video recording that the user creates with the app is only available through appropriate authorities: legal, health, school or by court order and is never directly available to the user. Data is encrypted twice and saved offline to ensure it is protected.
CMU Police Lt. Cameron Wassman said he doesn't see how providing more evidence for any crime could hurt anything.
"We can't support or endorse anything we don't know much about," he said. "But in our legal system, any additional video or audio evidence is very helpful to support any kind of a case."
Mount Pleasant Police Officer Jeff Browne said his only concern with the app is that a victim might might forget parts of their story or remember them incorrectly right after they were sexually assaulted because of shock. He said there might be a slight risk of that being used against them in court.
"That's why we interview someone the first time, then wait two to three days later (to interview them again)," he said.
Browne said he could see a little bit of risk, but reward too for using the app because if the jury saw the video of the victim it would probably be impactful and help them understand what they are going through.
"I'm all for new technology and new ways of doing things," Browne said. "Anything is (good) if it makes it less impactful for the victim."
The I've-Been-Violated app is part of a larger app suite that was created around the idea of consent.
"Only yes means yes," Lissack said. "If you leave out the word 'only' the statement doesn't mean as much."
