Imagine the unimaginable: You've been raped. You manage to pull yourself together to report your rape to the police or a hospital. You tell them what happened, reliving the nightmare. You receive essential medical attention. Then, for the next four to six hours, you submit to the collection of DNA evidence. Your body is swabbed and combed -- literally -- for evidence. This invasive and traumatic procedure produces a small package called a sexual assault evidence kit -- commonly referred to as a rape kit.
As tough as this procedure can be on you both physically and emotionally, you go through it because you know that gathering evidence of this crime will insure that the perpetrator is not only caught, but also incarcerated so that he can never hurt anyone again.
You go through it because the potential benefits of doing a rape kit are enormous: Evidence from the kit can identify an unknown perpetrator whose DNA is already in the system; confirm the presence of a known assailant; corroborate the victim's account of the rape; and exonerate innocent suspects.
If -- and only if -- the kit is actually tested.
Unfortunately, in too many cases, rape kits sit untested in police and crime lab storage facilities throughout the country. Though no federal entity collects rape kit data, experts in the federal government estimate that hundreds of thousands of rape kits remain untested in cities across the United States. In the past two years alone, the cities of Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, Birmingham and Albuquerque and the states of Illinois and Massachusetts have discovered tens of thousands of untested kits in police stations and crime labs.
By failing to test these rape kits, we are telling victims that pursuing justice doesn't matter, that convicting violent perpetrators and taking them off our streets is not a top priority.
The most common reason given for not testing these kits is the expense, with an average cost of around $1200. But we must find ways to fund this important work to send out the word that raping someone has serious criminal consequences. That rape will be punished. And that our justice system cares about victims.
In light of the rape kit backlog, it seems fair to ask: Why should we put women through hours of an invasive procedure if we don't follow through and test their kits? The last thing anyone wants is for news of the rape kit backlog to discourage women from coming forward to have a rape kit collected.
And while testing rape kits is important to advance investigations, it also sends an important message: It shows victims that their cases -- and their pain and their anguish -- matter.
What else can opening a rape kit personally do for a woman, in addition to providing evidence to prosecute and convict her attacker? Here's what a woman who was raped in California had to say when her rape kit was tested after thirteen years and her rapist was finally identified: "Finally, my nightmares have stopped almost altogether. I have a sense of security that I haven't felt in over a decade. My home is my own. My family is safe."
The good news is that we can fix this problem. New York City eliminated its backlog in 2003 to dramatic effect -- the arrest rate for rape jumped from 40 to 70 per cent.
Wednesday's episode of Law and Order: SVU, "Behave," shows the dire consequences of the rape kit backlog. We hope it will move you to action. To learn more about how you can help, go to a new web-site launching on September 29th, endthebacklog.org. Together we can end the rape kit backlog and bring justice to victims.
Neal Baer is the Executive Producer of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC; Mariska Hargitay is the Emmy-winning star of SVU and the founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation.
The person is raped here, mentally traumatized, and is released back to the community they hail from. All this time their mind is unsettled and mental state unstable, full of fears of recurrence and generally unable to bond properly with their loved ones. Meanwhile the perpetrator walks.
What is the law's core business and priority? Is it not to dispense justice and side with the citizenry always? It's a sad fact that law is not half as innovative as crime and criminals. Part of the problem is reactivity versus being proactive. Intelligence collection should be boosted to try and keep ahead of crime, as opposed to law enforcement waiting to be fed by complainants.
Even in an era of budget cuts, law enforcement should actively invest in the communities they operate from, with emphasis on education (e.g. on personal security), and initiatives such as discreet lines (hotlines) for anonymous reporting. All suspicious characters in communities must have Police visitations to find out who they are and databases to log their details. That might prove the start law needs to stay ahead of these kind of challenges.
Try criminal charges against whoever is responsible.
I'm a woman and I count. I'm a member of society and a citizen. I've been abused as a child, raped as a college student, then basically tortured by my ex-husband (who can't seem to learn how to read and obey a protection order). IMHO, it's way past time for SOMEONE to start giving a damn about enforcing laws, doing investigations and making sure justice is served - to ALL who've endured anything on the list of what I've endured. These are crimes, why do those who can do something just idly by when report them? Sitting idly by raises the crimes to human rights abuses when it occurs to enough of us.
Rape is a horrid crime, no matter how you look at it or the gender of the perpetrator and victim.
I, for one, would apply capital punishment to repeated rapists.
Unfortunately, in a momentary lapse of reason, we decided something else is more important...
Thank You for Standing Up to Bring Answers of Hope to Victims of Crimes!
In Alaska, Sarah Palin wanted to charge women for rape kits. I'm sure that our governor is aware of it and doesn't care.
This is not the dark ages. We need to be responsible human beings and find a solution for this. I've fought off a rapist two times and that was horrible. I can't imagine going through all the testing in the hospital to be told 12 years later that they finally looked at my kit and caught the rapist.
I can't imagine being a rape victim whose kit collects dust for a dozen years only to be finally tested and reveal the rapist was *right there* all along ... then find out criminal charges couldn't be filed b/c the statute of limitations had expired.
Where does your state stand?
http://www.rainn.org/public-policy/sexual-assault-issues/state-statutes-of-limitations