Evaluation of a Sexual Offenses Crisis Center: Outlining a Tested Procedure

• Main Author: Steele, Stephen F
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 10.04.1980
• Subjects: Community Information Services; Counseling Services; Crisis Intervention; Data Collection; Evaluation Methods; Formative Evaluation; Human Services; Program Evaluation; Psychological Services; Rape; Records (Forms); Summative Evaluation

The data collection procedures described in this report were designed to monitor and evaluate the performance of the Sexual Offenses Crisis Center in Annapolis, Maryland, for local, state, and federal agencies. After introductory material summarizing program evaluation criteria established by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, the report enumerates the Center's seven established goals. It then describes an ongoing data collection system, which was designed to record the number of people who contact the Center, the abuses they suffered, and the actions taken by the Center. The procedures used for assessing community impact and their findings are then described, revealing that the number of rapes that were reported increased a significant 57% in the year the Center opened, as compared to an increase of only 5.6% the year before. Finally, the report discounts the possible effects of an increased population and liberalized social attitudes on this statistical variance through a time trend examination of the change in the number of rapes per capita and through a comparison of Ann Arundel County rape statistics with those of a neighboring county without a crisis center. The forms used to monitor the activities of the Center are appended.