Healing, Agency, and Justice for Sexual Assault Survivors

The purpose of Callisto’s online college sexual assault documentation and reporting system is to combat sexual assault and support survivor healing and agency. 1 in 5 women will experience sexual assault while enrolled in college, but less than 10% will report through traditional, in-person reporting methods. 85% of survivors know their assailant and 90% of assaults are committed by repeat offenders. The Callisto system advances and supports the agency of women who have experienced sexual assault by confidentially connecting them with information on reporting options and support services. It also allows survivors to create a digital record that they can return to later, report electronically to start an investigation, or wait to report until another student reports the same assailant. Ultimately, the Callisto system helps survivors maintain control over what happens next, increasing their agency when they need it most.

Callisto aims to increase the agency of survivors and empower them to protect their community. This results in 1) better mental health outcomes for survivors, and 2) lower rates of sexual assault. Callisto increases survivor agency by 1) providing a confidential platform to electronically document their assault at a time and place that feels safe; 2) educating survivors on their reporting options and helping to facilitate an electronic report (on their own or in support of another student’s record); and 3) increasing the likelihood of justice if a survivor does report by helping them to create a more comprehensive record of their assault that is time-stamped. Callisto lowers rates of sexual assault by 1) creating a culture where students learn norms and values on consent and bodily autonomy that they carry with them beyond college; 2) deterring, identifying, and stopping repeat perpetrators (who commit 90% of assaults); and 3) collecting more comprehensive aggregate data on sexual assault incidence and patterns of perpetration that colleges can use to create prevention and response programs. In these ways, Callisto can impact specific communities and remedy long-standing cultural norms on sexual violence.

Vision

Online Reporting for All U.S. Survivors

Callisto would like the sexual assault documentation and reporting to be available to every survivor in the U.S. Approximately 4 million women are sexually assaulted annually in the U.S., but only one-third will report and fewer than 6% of perpetrators will ever spend a day in jail. With an expanded budget Callisto would be able to scale up our staff and operations to accomplish this goal.

Callisto

Healing, Agency, and Justice for Sexual Assault Survivors

Model and Strategy

Impact

Leadership

Jess Ladd