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Technology is evolving quickly, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming part of more and more everyday experiences. While AI does have the potential to save time and expand access to resources, these same tools can also introduce serious safety, privacy, and trust risks, especially for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, technology-facilitated abuse, and other forms of trauma. Some AI tools may offer advice or comfort that sounds human, but is actually misleading or unsafe, and most of them quietly store–and sometimes even share–what you tell them.

At the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), we believe survivors deserve clear, trustworthy information about how AI tools work, what risks they carry, and what options may exist for survivors and their loved ones who engage with these technologies. This guide was created to support you in making informed, confident choices about if or how you use AI, on your own terms.

Las herramientas de inteligencia artificial (IA) están empezando a formar parte de casi todas las profesiones, y los servicios para víctimas no son la excepción. Aunque la IA puede ayudar a ahorrar tiempo y facilitar el acceso a recursos, también puede representar riesgos serios para la seguridad, la privacidad y la confianza, sobre todo cuando se trabaja con personas sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica, agresión sexual, acoso, abuso facilitado por la tecnología y otras experiencias traumáticas.

Esta guía fue creada para ofrecer orientación práctica y apoyar a quienes brindan servicios a víctimas (VSP, por sus siglas en inglés) y a otras personas defensoras en la toma de decisiones informadas y coherentes con su misión sobre si usar o no herramientas de IA en el contexto de los servicios a víctimas y cómo hacerlo.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming embedded in nearly every profession, and victim services are no exception. While AI does have the potential to save time and expand access to resources, these same tools can also introduce serious safety, privacy, and trust risks, especially when working with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, technology-facilitated abuse, and other forms of trauma.

This guide is designed to share practical guidance and help victim service providers (VSPs) and other advocates make informed, mission-aligned decisions about whether and how to use AI tools in the context of victim services.

Attorneys who work on cases involving domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (DVSAS) face a disproportionate amount of threatened and actual violence compared to attorneys who practice in other fields. We created the Attorney Safety Guide to provide civil attorneys who represent survivors of DVSAS, as well as leadership at legal services organizations serving DVSAS survivors, with information and resources to help them preempt and address safety concerns often affecting attorneys in the field.

Because protection orders can be the basis by which someone is ineligible to receive a firearm, a National Instant Criminal Background Check relies on state, local and tribal court protection order information. Generally, protection order information can be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Protection Order Files (POF) and/or the NICS Indices. The easiest way to ensure that the proper information is uploaded from state, tribal and local justice system databases into federal databases that are used to conduct background checks is to develop a summary information form or cover sheet that includes all of the information needed for NICS to run a firearms-related background check and is completed at the time the related protection order is issued. This resource details all of the information that a summary information form would need to include and provides a sample form.

Because misdemeanor convictions for crimes of domestic and dating violence can be the basis by which someone is prohibited from receiving a firearm, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System at the FBI relies on state, local and tribal court criminal records information. Generally, information about convictions for misdemeanor crimes of domestic and dating violence can be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III), and/or the NICS Indices. The easiest way to ensure that the proper information is uploaded from state, Tribal and local justice system databases into federal databases that are used to conduct background checks is to develop a summary information form or cover sheet that includes all of the information needed for NICS to run a firearms-related background check and is completed at the time the conviction is entered. This resource identifies the information that should be included in such a cover sheet and provides a sample.

In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal law that prohibits domestic abusers subject to protection orders from possessing firearms.

This technical assistance bulletin answers frequently asked questions about the Court’s opinion and practical considerations for judges, lawyers, advocates and others whose work involves supporting survivors and/or the issuance and enforcement of domestic violence protection orders.

In the United States, one in eight high school students reports having been subjected to dating violence (physical, sexual, or both) within the last year. Among the college population, approximately 23% of U.S. undergraduate students report having been subjected to emotional, physical and/or sexual violence by a dating partner in the preceding year. This means that every high school and college community is impacted by teen dating violence. The majority of teen dating violence-related homicides are committed with a firearm and schools have been the site of fatal teen dating violence. This resource identifies key information about the intersection of teen dating violence and firearms that schools should understand and recommends steps schools can take to minimize risk.

The 2005 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) included a certification requirement in the STOP Grants Program, requiring any applicant for STOP funds (including States) to certify that “its judicial administrative policies and practices include notification to domestic violence offenders of the requirements delineated in section 922(g)(8) and (g)(9) of Title 18, United States Code, and any applicable related Federal, State, or local laws[.]” STOP funding depends on the Court’s ability to show that they have a policy or practice that reliably informs domestic violence offenders in cases involving protection orders and misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence about the potential or actual prohibitions they may face under federal, State, tribal, or local firearms laws. Failure to show compliance could result in your State losing all or part of its STOP grant funding. Law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services (as well as courts) all depend on courts meeting the grant conditions for STOP funding in their state. This resource from the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and Firearms and the National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith and Credit explains how courts can meet this obligation.