Prosecution of Crimes Occurring in Washington, DC

In the fall of 2015, Denise submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting information concerning the prosecution of crimes occurring in Washington, DC.  DOJ denied the original request and subsequent appeal claiming that it did not keep track of this data.  Denise then sued DOJ for this information. The case is currently ongoing.  More information about the FOIA litigation can be found at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/woman-seeking-data-on-conviction-rates-is-told-request-is-costly/2015/12/12/9323f6b0-a010-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/justice-department-says-it-does-not-track-data-dc-activist-is-seeking/2016/01/23/3b74c9ea-bf8b-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html

Military Sexual Assault

In 2013, Denise testified twice before the Department of Defense Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel.  As a former Coast Guard officer and Chief Counsel of the Maritime Administration, Denise testified in support of Senator Gillibrand’s legislation to remove the chain of command from sexual assault and rape prosecutions.

Additional information about Denise’s testimony can be found at:

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/MarEx-OPED-Combatting-Sexual-Assault-in-the-Military-2014-02-03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/rebranding-rape-makes-accountability-harder-to-come-by/2014/04/28/644b748c-cf18-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html