Congress affirmed the duty to protect incarcerated individuals from sexual abuse by enacting the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), taking the first national step toward a new understanding of the problem of sexual abuse in correctional and detention facilities. The House and Senate voted unanimously to pass the Act.

The North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is working with the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to study the causes and consequences of sexual abuse in confinement and to develop standards for eliminating abuse.