GENERAL NOTES

Please refer to immediate practical matters for additional urgent needs and concerns. This section gives a quick overview of specific types of crimes or incidents that you may have experienced. At the end of each section is a list of related resources under Agencies involved.

Contact info for agencies involved is in RESOURCES.

College & School Campus Crimes

Title IX (9) is a federal law that requires all colleges and schools that receive federal funding to protect students, faculty and staff from sex-based discrimination (including sexual harassment or violence).

Each campus has a Title IX Coordinator to whom incidents are reported. Each school must adopt, publish and distribute a policy against discrimination, including what the grievance procedures involve, general disciplinary actions, and assist with reporting and follow-up. Some institutions are more intensive in the support they offer, like including school-appointed peers and hotlines.

If the complaint process is completed and you have additional issues on how the institution has handled it, you have 60 days to file a complaint with the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), although they may defer and agree with the previous decision reached; they will also not handle cases that are still in process at the school or college.

Agencies involved

Refer to applicable Types of Crime sections above for local resources including law enforcement contacts; Visit your school’s website for Title IX contact information (must be listed by law); For information on filing a Title IX complaint, visit the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at 1 (800) 421-3481, Email: ocr@ed.gov. Refer to the LA Mental Health Resource Toolkit for a list of college and university support services and Know Your IX (national organization).

In Custody Crimes

Violence can occur between incarcerated person(s), committed by correctional staff, or directed against staff by incarcerated person(s). Violence can be physical in nature but can also include sexual violence. Such violence is often connected with previously unaddressed traumas even before incarceration, and the many stressors when inside. Family, friends and attorneys can report sexual abuse, harassment, and other sexual misconduct occurring inside Orleans Justice Center (parish jail) using this confidential hotline: 1 (844) 201-4312 or (504) 717-2279.

In many cases when an incarcerated person commits a serious crime while in prison, they will be faced with new criminal charges. In these situations, the individual would be subject to a new trial. In-custody deaths caused by homicide, suicide, and especially drug/alcohol intoxication, have also been rising dramatically over the past decade (per the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018).

Agencies involved: Dept of Corrections; Orleans District Attorney’s Office DA (after arrest); Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office OPSO; FBI (guard on inmate crimes); Coroner’s Office (if there is a death)

In Orleans Parish Prison: To report abuse and sexual assaults: 1-844-201-4312 or (504) 717-2279;

General support: Voice of the Experienced V.O.T.E.; Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI); Daughters Beyond Incarceration; Operation Restoration

Hate Crimes

A hate crime is motivated by prejudice, where the crime is motivated by bias against the victim’s “actual or perceived race, age, gender, religion, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, or ancestry” or because of actual or perceived membership/employment as a “law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel” (LA RS 14:107.2). It can take many forms including physical assault, verbal abuse, criminal damage, abusive gestures, or offensive graffiti, etc.

Available online resources for LGBTQIA+ survivors of violence:

The United States Department of Justice: https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes

The Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/resources/hate-crimes

FORGE: https://forge-forward.org/resources/anti-violence/

Agencies involved: Refer to applicable Types of Crime sections above for local resources including law enforcement contacts; to reach NOPD’s LGBTQ Liaisons Officer Harper: SRHarper@nola.gov; to report a hate crime: FBI 1 (800) CALL-FBI, or https://tips.fbi.gov/; House of Tulip (New Orleans collective helping trans and gender non-conforming persons find housing); LA Trans Advocates; The Trevor Project; Human Rights Campaign; Forge Forward; PFLAG; NOAGE; Vayla (confidentially report New Orleans area anti-Asian hate crimes)