Evaluation of the ACT Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP)

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system. The Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) is one key initiative developed in response to these recommendations. Managed by the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), SARP’s main objective is to improve aspects of the criminal justice system relating to: processes and support for victims of sexual offences as they progress through the system; attrition in sexual offence matters in the criminal justice system; and coordination and collaboration among the agencies involved. In November 2007 the ACT Attorney-General announced $4 million of funding for several SARP reforms. This funding provided for additional victim support staff; a dedicated additional police officer, prosecutor and legal policy officer; and an upgrade of equipment for the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court, including improvements in technology to assist witnesses in giving evidence, and the establishment of an off-site facility to allow witnesses to give evidence from a location outside of the court. In addition, the reform agenda included a number of legislative amendments that changed how evidence can be given by victims of sexual and family violence offences, children and other vulnerable witnesses. The primary objectives of these legislative changes are to provide an unintimidating, safe environment for vulnerable witnesses (including sexual offence complainants) to give evidence and to obtain prompt statements from witnesses to improve the quality of evidence captured (DPP 2009: 13)

Anatomical and Physiological Characterization of the Turtle Brain Stem Auditory Circuit

The goal of this dissertation is to add to understanding of the evolution of hearing by studying the testudine taxon. This dissertation focuses on central auditory processing in the context of evolution. The experiments described are designed to give insight into how binaural hearing evolved. Follow the findings of Christensen-Dalsgaard and colleagues (2012) that an amphibious turtle had lower hearing thresholds under water than in air and that this difference is conferred by resonance of the middle ear cavity, I examined middle ear cavities across families of Testudines. I found that middle ear cavity structure and function is shared by all testudines (Willis, et al., 2013). Modern neuroanatomical tract tracing techniques were used to understand the connections among the auditory nuclei in the brain stem of the turtle. Turtles have brain stem nuclei that are connected in the same pattern as the other reptiles, including birds. These nuclei are nucleus angularis, nucleus magnocellularis, nucleus laminaris, superior olive, and torus semicircularis. Details of neuron structure were also examined and quantified. Finally, I developed an isolated head preparation that enables in vivo-like physiological recording. As proof of principle, neurons were characterized by best frequency response, threshold, phase locking. Additionally, binaurally responsive neurons were found, which have a range of interaural time difference sensitivity responses. Although the evolutionary position of testudines is not yet resolved, it is most likely that testudines share their most recent common ancestor with the archosaurs. I hypothesize that testudines likely reflect the ancestral condition of auditory processing for the archosaur clade. All experiments described in this dissertation were performed according to the guidelines approved by the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA, USA), the University of Maryland Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) and the Danish National Animal Experimentation Board (Dyreforsøgstilsynet)