The University of Kentucky has established the Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women.
Carol Jordan, who heads the new office, founded UK's Center for Research on Violence Against Women a decade ago. Jordan says a women's safety study a couple of years ago found sexual assault victims who filed criminal reports did so in the first 24 hours, or didn't at all.
"That's a small piece of data, but it's a kernel of information that, to me, where I on the practice side, boy that would tell me a lot about what my services needed to look like,” said Jordan.
Jordan sees the work in her office including sexual assault policy discussions with state lawmakers, judges, and officials in state agencies. Jordan anticipates working with officials in state government agencies.
"And I think having opportunities to share data to share policy research can also be of assistance when they're trying to look for funding priorities, I think we can be in the business of providing them with assistance in that as well,” added Jordan.
Jordon expects the "dating violence" issue to be on the office's agenda as well. Legislation to allow dating partners to request emergency protective orders has been before Kentucky lawmakers for several years.
