The Survivor Advocacy Project (SAP) builds generations of lawyers dedicated to preventing and combatting sexual harassment and violence. SAP provides the communities within UC Berkeley, the Bay Area, and beyond with legal support aimed at empowering and supporting survivors of sexual violence. SAP instills skills of prevention, advocacy, training, empathy, cultural competency, and healing.
In the 2024-25 academic year, SAP members will work with one of two partners:
1. Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC): Students will be working on an in-depth research and writing project with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. The project will involve victim service agencies (primarily rape crisis centers, or RCCs) in Massachusetts that are working with correctional agencies across the Commonwealth to satisfy their obligations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). States that have decided to implement the federal PREA requirements have the obligation under the law to provide a set of services to prisoners in their custody. While PREA outlines these services broadly, it also mandates that correctional agencies have a more detailed agreement or contract with “outside emotional support agencies” that can provide certain specific resources to prisoners – crisis intervention hotline support, advocacy during sexual assault evidence collection, providing advocates for investigational interviews, etc. Although PREA mandates these agreements, it unfortunately does not provide any additional guidance about what these agreements should look like, or what obligations correctional agencies and emotional support agencies should address when making them.
In Massachusetts (and in many other states), this ambiguity has led to a patchwork of formal and informal agreements between RCCs and correctional agencies that often leave gaps in services for prisoners. Because there is no standardization in agreements, some correctional agencies do not provide the same level of protection for rape crisis counselor confidentiality that both Massachusetts law and federal law require; some agreements do not include all the services that PREA requires a correctional agency to provide; and many do not have specific provisions for cross-training or RCC staff access. The goal of this project is to assist RCCs and correctional facilities with satisfying their PREA obligations and protect incarcerated survivors as they are legally obligated to.
2. Equal Rights Advocates (ERA): Students will be working on an in-depth research and writing project. The project involves students conducting legal research and working closely with attorneys to address the growing concerning trend of AI deepfakes as a form of sexual harassment and finding potential reprieve under Title IX.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the bipartisan DEFIANCE Act (Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Nonconsensual Edits Act of 2024) to amend the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) after having personal experience with AI-generated pornographic deepfakes. This act aims to create a federal civil right of action for victims whose likenesses are used without consent in sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is supported by multiple advocacy groups and seeks to address the growing issue of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, which predominantly affects women and causes significant harm including emotional trauma, damaged reputations, and increased risk of abuse .
Title IX is a federal civil rights law in the United States that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. As technology evolves, protections under Title IX are being reconsidered to address new challenges, including the rise of AI-generated deepfakes. Students will start out by digging into any legal/legislative articles circulating in the media on the subject of deepfakes and sexual violence.
Supervision: Students in SAP provide legal services under the supervision of attorneys from the Equal Rights Advocates and Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
Time Commitment: Approximately 20 hours.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at berkeleylawsap@law.berkeley.edu.