Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Callisto: Designing a reporting system for sexual assault


Callisto is an interesting website designed to reduce the under-reporting of sexual assault, and make it easier to identify serial predators. The "Match" option is particularly interesting in this regard.

"Callisto offers students three options:

Record. Survivors can create secure, encrypted, and time-stamped records about their sexual assault. On average, survivors who report begin the process 11 months after experiencing sexual assault. Callisto allows students to immediately preserve evidence on their own terms, at a time, place, and pace that is best for them.

Report. Survivors can electronically send the record they have created to their school. This equips schools with a detailed account of what happened before the student ever meets with them. Reports submitted through Callisto led to more rapid and thorough investigations and reduced the chances for human error.

Match. Survivors can help schools identify repeat offenders using Callisto’s matching function. This option allows survivors to store information about their perpetrator under the precondition that it will only be released to the school if another student names the same perpetrator."
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I can't find much about the use of the service or its impact on outcomes from their very brief annual report, however.

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