The Legal Systems Toolkit helps legal system stakeholders: Law Enforcement, Attorneys, Court Personnel, Community Corrections, and others, identify what technology is relevant to a case and how to use technology evidence to hold offenders accountable. Technology evidence may strengthen cases by providing tangible proof. It may also help in negotiating pleas or settlements, obtaining confessions or guilty verdicts, or relieve some of the pressure on victims to testify against their perpetrator.

Start with A Primer for Using the Legal Systems Toolkit: Understanding & Investigating Tech Misuse, which contains information that is essential to understanding all documents within this toolkit.

Approaches to Evidence Collection

• Survivor Considerations

• Criminal vs. Civil Cases

Technology Specific Evidence Guides

• Direct Messaging

• Spyware

• Spoofing

• Email

• Internet of Things (IoT)

Evidence Guides for Attorneys

• Evidence Collection Tips for Civil Attorneys

• Evidence Tips for Prosecutors: Technology Abuse

Additional Resources

Over the years Safety Net has produced a variety of resources geared towards professionals working within legal systems:

• Finding Laws to Charge Perpetrators Who Misuse Technology

• Assessing For Technology Abuse

• Using Technology to Communicate with Victims (for law enforcement-based advocates)

• Open Data & Victim Privacy for Law Enforcement Agencies

• Body Worn Cameras: Issues to Consider

• Unintended Consequences of Offender Registries

  • Related Blog Post

• Understanding Encryption: The Connections to Survivor Safety

• Specialized System Databases Tipsheet

• Why Privacy Matters

• How to Gather Technology Evidence for Court- A joint publication by NNEDV and NCJFCJ

• NNEDV’s WomensLaw.org project also maintains information on state-specific laws related to technology abuse.

Resources for Victims

Professionals working within legal systems have a unique opportunity to help victims stay connected, document the abuse, and safely access tools that can help in an emergency. Refer victims to a local advocate who understands tech safety, or let them know about the resources in our Survivor Toolkit at TechSafety.org, particularly:

• Documentation Tips for Survivors

• Technology Safety Plan