Prevention Strategy

On May 1, 2014, the Department of Defense published the 2014-2016 Sexual Assault Prevention Strategy which is designed to ensure the Department executes proactive and comprehensive sexual assault prevention programs in order to enable military readiness and reduce - with a goal to eliminate - sexual assault from the military.

DoD’s sexual assault prevention objective is to deliver consistent and effective prevention methods and programs. The desired end state is an atmosphere where cultural imperatives of mutual respect and trust, professional values, and team commitment are reinforced to create an environment where sexual assault is not tolerated, condoned, or ignored.

View the 2014-2016 DoD Sexual Assault Prevention Strategy

Because this is a multi-faceted problem, it is important to conduct a number of interventions that span multiple levels to achieve the greatest, lasting impact. Single-faceted (e.g., training only or deterrence only) efforts have not shown long term effectiveness in reducing sexual assault. DoD SAPRO researched promising practices and developed a recommended list of elements to include in sexual assault prevention programs; read about them here.

“SAPR Connect” Community of Practice

To assist military sexual assault response professionals, the DoD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office developed and manages “SAPR Connect,” an online platform to collaborate and share ideas, research, insights from experts, and news from the field. This common access card (CAC)–enabled collaborative community of practice is critical to ensuring DoD has dynamic and responsive sexual assault prevention efforts. SAPR Connect provides users a wide variety of resources to ensure sexual assault prevention programs are as effective as possible.

Enter SAPR Connect (a CAC-enabled, community of practice) here