Through funding under the British Government's Crime Reduction Program and the Violence Against women Initiative, three Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC's) were established between 1986 and the 1990's in Manchester, Northumbria, and West Yorkshire to address serious shortcomings in the medico-legal response to recent victims of rape. Although four other SARC's were founded in the early 2000's, this evaluation addressed the operations of these three SARC's. The evaluations focused on the contribution of the SARC's to the experience of reporting rape and/or dealing with its immediate aftermath, as well as improvement in the criminal justice system's response to the victim and the crime. Relevant data were collected from the three SARC's and three comparison areas in southeast England selected to reflect a combination of metropolitan, inner city, and rural areas, so as to compare conditions for rape victims and cases in areas with and without a SARC. A base sample of 3,527 rape cases were tracked through the criminal justice system. Subsamples of victims/survivors (n=228) were interviewed. Interviews were also conducted with key informants and police officers (n=143). There was some difficulty in recruiting rape victims from the comparison areas, so more data were obtained from the victims in SARC jurisdictions, suggesting that the presence of a SARC facilitates an analysis of how rape cases and victims are being handled locally. Although the majority of SARC referrals were by police, almost one-fourth were self-referrals. Assaults committed by men known to the victims were more common among self-referrals than police referrals, indicating that SARC's increase access to services and support for rape victims who do not report their victimization to the police. The two integrated SARC's were the most reliable in providing prompt and consistent responses. The program that coordinated outsourced forensic examinations performed least well. Service users gave very high marks for a range of SARC services. Services particularly appreciated were the automatic provision of female examiners and support staff, proactive follow-up support, case tracking, advocacy, and easy telephone access to advice and information. Recommendations include greater round-the-clock access, more support groups, and self-defense classes. This report presents an "ideal" SARC model for the future. It addresses the overall framework, the range of services, forensic practice, and interagency links. Progress toward this ideal model will depend on strong government guidance through the creation of national protocols and standards. The newly formed Inter-Ministerial Group on Sexual Violence can provide the leadership in this endeavor. 4 tables; 5 figures; 40 references; and appended comparative profiles of study sites, research tools and data sources, response rates to initial service user questionnaire, and comparative analysis of SARC service users and comparison area cases