Glossary of Terms

Any sexual or sexualized behavior that makes a person feel uncomfortable, intimidated, threatened or frightened.

Penetration of a victim’s body with any portion of the perpetrator’s body or an object.

When someone is touched against their will.

Any penetration of a spouse without that person’s consent.

Non-consensual contact between someone's mouth and another person's genitals or anus.

When a person expresses overt actions or words indicating agreement for sexual acts.

Rape crisis centers provide mental health help, legal aid, safe housing and other services for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

An awareness campaign that teaches people how to help survivors feel heard and supported when they come forward about a sexual assault.

When someone experiencing trauma disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories, behaviors, physical sensations, or sense of identity.

A type of memory loss that happens when someone is in a dissociative state.

Fight-or-flight is an active stress response to a perceived threat, in which the brain chooses to fight or to escape.

Part of the frontal lobe, a section of the brain responsible for problem-solving, emotional expression, memory and language. It’s also responsible for motor functions.

The defense circuitry is responsible for scanning for threats.

These are details that a survivor gives attention to during the assault.

These are details that are not relevant to survival or coping, so they may not be fully encoded into memory.

This term is used to describe the emotional, physical and behavioral reactions of someone who’s experienced completed or attempted rape.

Unwanted, distressing memories of the traumatic event.

Trying to avoid talking about the traumatic event or avoiding places that bring up memories about the traumatic event.

Something that brings up a memory of a traumatic event.

A state of increased alertness that can make survivors highly aware of their surroundings.

Programs that refund victims of crime for expenses related to the incident, and the trauma that follows.

This is a trained counselor from Sacramento’s rape crisis center who can serve as a support person to a survivor in the aftermath of the assault.

Evidentiary exams are intended to collect forensic evidence for use in criminal prosecution.

A VAWA exam is also intended to collect forensic evidence, but it doesn’t require survivors to report to law enforcement.

This is another term for an evientiary exam.

The rape kit, sometimes called a forensic kit, describes the way the evidence collected during a medical exam is packaged before it’s sent to the crime lab for processing.

The Bridging Evidence Assessment and Resources center at Sutter Health is the designated location for evidentiary exams in Sacramento County.

Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners are registered nurses who are specially trained to conduct evidentiary exams on sexual assault survivors.

A streamlined DNA analysis process.

A special interviewing method designed to accommodate for the memory struggles survivors often face.

These are interview rooms at police stations designed specifically for survivors of trauma.

A phrase used to describe when police have more than a suspicion that someone committed a crime, but they aren't absolutely certain.

The legal burden of proof required to confirm conviction in a criminal case.

When law enforcement “clears a case” it means they close it, either by making an arrest and passing the case forward to prosecution or by “exceptional means."

When police know who the suspect is and where they are and have enough evidence to arrest them, but for some reason outside of law enforcement’s control, they can't.

This is when an investigation shows that a crime was not committed or attempted. Unfounded cases can be baseles.

A case is filed as informational when it doesn’t currently meet the elements of a crime, but law enforcement agents want to keep the information on file in case it can contribute to future cases involving the same perpetrator.