COURAGE Initiative

Staffed by law students at the Miami Law Human Rights Clinic, the COURAGE in Policing Project aims to improve access to safety and justice for all survivors, with a particular focus on:

• Women of color
• Immigrant women
• Disabled women
• LGBTQI individuals
• Underserved populations

The project builds upon the work of human rights frameworks and structures at the local level, such as municipalities that have passed resolutions declaring that “Freedom from Domestic Violence is a Fundamental Human Right” as well as “CEDAW Cities,” to engage them in efforts to work with police departments in their local jurisdictions to implement the key principles of the DOJ Guidance. It also builds upon the promising practices in jurisdictions that are developing pilot projects to implement the DOJ Guidance through grants from the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).

• Develop model community assessments and climate surveys, to assess how law enforcement is responding to domestic violence and sexual assault at the community level, and to identify priority issues for local advocates;
• Provide tools for use of research and data monitoring in order to identify and prevent gender bias in law enforcement responses to domestic violence and sexual assault;

• Develop a repository of information and resources through a special COURAGE webpage, to assist organizations and communities with implementation of the DOJ Guidance through improved trainings, policies, supervision protocols, and systems of accountability;

• Develop a community toolkit to complement the impact campaign associated with HOME TRUTH, a documentary that focuses on the life and activism of Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales), whose case to compel greater law enforcement accountability in enforcing orders of protection went to the U.S. Supreme Court and ultimately the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;

• Bring an intersectional gender lens to this initiative to identify resources and promising practices for improving law enforcement responses to better serve survivors from marginalized populations who face additional barriers, including women of color, immigrant women, disabled women, indigenous women, LGBTQI individuals, and other underserved populations;

• Facilitate ongoing engagement between communities and police departments, through the use of the tools described above; and

• Facilitate a national conversation among local communities to foster innovation, enhance coordinated community responses, and support peer learning to advance national and local momentum on improving the law enforcement response to gender violence.

Improving the response to gender violence is often not a top law enforcement priority, even though:

• Domestic and sexual violence calls for service comprise the majority of 911 calls to many police departments;
• These 911 calls are among the most dangerous assignments for responding officers;
• Our national conversation about bias in policing has tended to focus on race and national origin, not sex or gender;
• A 2015 survey of victims who called the National Domestic Violence Hotline, as well as a 2015 survey victim advocates and professionals, demonstrated
  • a strong reluctance on the part of many victims to turn to law enforcement for help; and
  • significant barriers when victims do seek law enforcement assistance.

The COURAGE in Policing Project was established after the 2015 Guidance on Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (DOJ Guidance). As detailed in this report, the DOJ Guidance reflects input provided by a wide array of stakeholders and experts, including police leaders, victim advocates, survivors, and civil rights advocates.

It aims to advance more trauma-informed and victim-centered approaches in police response to domestic violence and sexual assault. The Guidance highlights 8 key principles for law enforcement agencies to integrate into trainings, protocols, and practices, to reduce potential gender bias in policing and develop more effective responses.

1. Recognize and address biases, assumptions and stereotypes about victims;
2. Treat all victims with respect and employing trauma-informed interviewing tactics;
3. Investigate sexual assault and domestic violence complaints thoroughly and effectively;
4. Appropriately classify reports of sexual assault or domestic violence;
5. Connect victims to appropriate services;
6. Properly identify the assailant in domestic violence incidents.
7. Hold officers who commit sexual assault or domestic violence accountable; and
8. Maintain, review and act upon data regarding sexual assault and domestic violence to improve the law enforcement response.

Miami Law’s Human Rights Clinic developed a human rights framework for improving law enforcement responses to gender-based violence, as well as a series of country case studies, focused on Canada, Brazil (in English and Portuguese), and the U.S., assessing good practices and challenges using this framework.

Litigation:

• In October 2018, the Human Rights Clinic authored an intervention before the European Court of Human Rights focused on addressing officer-perpetrated domestic violence. The Clinic argued for heightened state responsibility in cases of officer-perpetrated GBV, noting that officers are uniquely positioned to use their state authority, training, and access to weapons and resources to facilitate abuse in their relationship. Moreover, heightened vigilance by the state is required to prevent impunity and safeguard the justice system’s integrity.
• In October 2022, the Court issued its decision, agreeing that states must be “all the more stringent when investigating . . . their own law enforcement officers for the commission of serious crimes, including domestic violence and violence against women in general, than they are with ordinary offenders, because what is at stake is not only the issue of the individual criminal-law liability of the perpetrators but also the State’s duty to combat any sense of impunity felt by the offenders by virtue of their very office, and maintain public confidence in and respect for the law-enforcement system.” Please see a web story and blog on this case.

A package of materials pushing for the repeal of Florida law SB 168 and other anti-immigrant laws in the U.S.:

• In September 2020, the Clinic submitted an Amicus Brief to the Southern District of Florida in support of the plaintiffs in City of South Miami, et al. v. Ron DeSantis, et al. The brief discusses how SB 168 will negatively impact immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.
• In February 2020, the Clinic published a law review article in the Harvard Latinx Law Review that discusses how anti-immigrant laws violate the international human rights law to which the United States is bound.
• In November 2019, the Clinic published an op-ed in the Miami Herald. The link to the article can be found here: Repeal Florida law that leaves immigrant domestic-violence victims in greater danger | Opinion
• In October 2019, the Clinic submitted a report on the impact of anti-immigrant laws in the U.S. on immigrant survivors of gender-based violence, as part of the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of the U.S. by the U.N. Human Rights Council, The Clinic's report highlights Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, SB 168, as a prime example of how such laws place survivors in greater danger, exacerbate their trauma, and undermine public safety. A web story on this advocacy can be found at Clinic Submits Four Reports to the United Nations Alleging Violations in the U.S. The Clinic additionally developed a factsheet on the impact of SB 168 on Immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.

Community Surveys:

• In February 2019, the Human Rights Clinic launched two surveys in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, geared towards survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and their advocates in South Florida on their experience with law enforcement responses to domestic violence and sexual assault. The COURAGE team developed these surveys following roundtables with various community-based organizations in South Florida.
• Additionally, the Clinic developed a survey in English and Spanish geared towards service providers of domestic violence and sexual assault in South Florida on their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic.