400,000 US rape kits sit untested

[skeptifem]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-tofte30-2008jun30,0,7035497.story

The National Institute of Justice estimates that at least 400,000 rape kits are sitting untested in police stations and crime labs across the country. In the city of Los Angeles alone, more than 7,000 sit in refrigerated storage in a city warehouse facility and a trailer behind police headquarters. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department likely has its own backlog, but the sheriff has never disclosed its size.

....

Although not every tested rape kit yields a database match, when New York City processed all its backlogged rape kits in 2003, the effort led to about 2,000 hits.

seems to me like this should be a top priority for crime labs, it is a felony after all. what. the. ****.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

"Rapists go free, no one cares less".
So what else is new.

 

[skeptifem]

some people are unaware of how messed up the justice system is twards rape victims, so i thought i would make a thread about it.

 

[Bikewer]

It is not normally the practice to subject the kit to DNA testing unless the victim indicates a willingness to prosecute. It may well be the case that a large percentage of these "untested" kits are untested because the victim is unwilling to cooperate with authorities.
It's routine for emergency rooms to prepare rape kits on all sexual assaults.
These are normally then turned over to the police that have jurisdiction over the are where the incident occurred.

Sometimes the victim doesn't know, or wont' tell....

I wonder about the time factor here as well. That sounds like a large figure, but if they had accumulated over a period of years....

 

[a_unique_person]

I wonder about the time factor here as well. That sounds like a large figure, but if they had accumulated over a period of years....

400,000? That's a lot of rapes.

 

[Travis]

400,000? That's a lot of rapes.

Remember that a good get-rich-quick scheme is to have consensual sex with a rich man and then accuse him of rape. Which is sad because it casts doubts on the validity of the claims by women who actually were raped.

 

[PuckishOne]

Remember that a good get-rich-quick scheme is to have consensual sex with a rich man and then accuse him of rape.

Consensual sex (even when rough) and forced sex leave markedly different physical indications on the victim (or non-victim). If a proper medical exam is conducted these can be found and are excellent forensic evidence in the courtroom, being fairly easy to communicate to a jury.

Although false rape claims are common (see here), I'm not aware of any convictions or punitive damages being awarded in any false-accusation "get-rich-quick" scheme...any citations? This would make a really interesting discussion in my paralegal course, so I'm genuinely interested.

 

[Solus]

That sounds terrible I'd expect more media coverage about this.

 

[CptColumbo]

This backlog may depend on:
1. Does a department have the facilities to process a "rape" kit?
2. If it is contracted out, what is the cost compared to the budget of the department?
3. How quickly a Sexual Assault Kit can be processed by the lab in question?
4. Priorities. As was written earlier, if no one is pressing charges and there is another case where someone will press charges the other may be set aside. Also, murders may get priority over rape.

It is a sad situation, not just for the accuser, but also for the accused.

 

[Father Dagon]

Consensual sex (even when rough) and forced sex leave markedly different physical indications on the victim (or non-victim). If a proper medical exam is conducted these can be found and are excellent forensic evidence in the courtroom, being fairly easy to communicate to a jury.

Although false rape claims are common (see here), I'm not aware of any convictions or punitive damages being awarded in any false-accusation "get-rich-quick" scheme...any citations? This would make a really interesting discussion in my paralegal course, so I'm genuinely interested.

Most false rape accusations is not beacuse the women want to get rich quick, but beacuse of a "straggling culture". The western culture has evolved so much that it's OK for women to enjoy sex, but only if the women behave like little princesses. And as we all know, princesses by definition incapable of making bad decisions. If the cute guy at the bar is bad in the sack and if the woman had a couple of glasses too much in order to be able to take initiative and save the day, then all blame is on the horrible, horrible man that deluded the little poor princess. Enter the false rape accusations. "We must all believe the poor woman! Yadda-yadda!"

The day women take full responsibility for their actions, then we'll only have false rape accusations from the deranged.

 

[skeptifem]

Remember that a good get-rich-quick scheme is to have consensual sex with a rich man and then accuse him of rape. Which is sad because it casts doubts on the validity of the claims by women who actually were raped.

Its not a good get rich quick scheme. The only time that type of lying would be effective is if you are trying to ruin someones reputation, and that doesnt even work very often. Do you not remember the kobe bryant case? It was a hugely popular topic for discussion in colorado and i would say the 'the bitch is lying' comments outweighed every other sort of commenting (including 'who knows what happened' neuteral ones) at least 10 to 1. People still very much think that a woman being intoxicated, with a man alone, wearing revealing clothing, not being a virgin, etc makes it the victims fault, or that certain brands of women are somehow unable to be raped. these are the tactics that defense lawyers use in these cases because it works. Kobes lawyers broke rape sheild laws and barely got a slap on the wrist. they were trying to humiliate her out of the case, and that seemed to work. I personally dont know why, if she was a shameless money grubbing liar, they would use that strategy. But its not like i know what really happened, it just seems crazy to me that everyone jumped to his defense and didnt question when all of that has been considered. anyway, he was back doing commercials for mcdonalds pretty friggin quick.

Have you looked at the numbers of how many cases actually get convicted out of the ones that go to court? its EXTREMELY LOW. Cases get dismissed for crappy reasons all the time. There were MULTIPLE people at the air force academy in colorado who reported rape cases and there was outrage, but when an actual trial rolled around things were dismissed quietly. a therapist for one of the victims refused to turn over confidential notes from the sessions and the military court let the alleged perpatrator go because of it. when cadets reported a rash of rapes they were basically given a handbook on how to deal with that, and nothing else happened because of it until the media was alerted.

I seriously do not understand where people get the idea that everyone is on the victims side when they report a rape. It is quite the opposite the majority of the time.

 

[skeptifem]

It is not normally the practice to subject the kit to DNA testing unless the victim indicates a willingness to prosecute. It may well be the case that a large percentage of these "untested" kits are untested because the victim is unwilling to cooperate with authorities.
It's routine for emergency rooms to prepare rape kits on all sexual assaults.
These are normally then turned over to the police that have jurisdiction over the are where the incident occurred.

Sometimes the victim doesn't know, or wont' tell....

I wonder about the time factor here as well. That sounds like a large figure, but if they had accumulated over a period of years....

you cant get these things done without taking a statement. if they have the statements and dna evidence im not sure why the state needs the victim there in person to prosecute.

where i used to live domestic violences charges were always brought on behalf of the state regardless of what the victim wanted because it was such a problem to get victims to participate in the prosecution after the initial investigation. I am not sure why beating someone up would be treated differently than a rape?

 

[skeptifem]

Most false rape accusations is not beacuse the women want to get rich quick, but beacuse of a "straggling culture". The western culture has evolved so much that it's OK for women to enjoy sex, but only if the women behave like little princesses. And as we all know, princesses by definition incapable of making bad decisions. If the cute guy at the bar is bad in the sack and if the woman had a couple of glasses too much in order to be able to take initiative and save the day, then all blame is on the horrible, horrible man that deluded the little poor princess. Enter the false rape accusations. "We must all believe the poor woman! Yadda-yadda!"

it never fails to amaze me how often any thread here about actual rapes occuring turns into something about women being liars.

I am sick of this discussion. If you want to make a thread about false reports of rapes, please do so, but I am absolutely ****ing sick and tired of this. Its as though the rape actually occuring is not an important topic to discuss because everyone just wants to bash women who lie. it never fails. How hard is it to realize that there are actual rapes that happen and to discuss it? Why is this so popular in rape threads and not threads about child molestation? do children never lie?

The day women take full responsibility for their actions, then we'll only have false rape accusations from the deranged

we arent the borg, and this sounds an awful lot like victim blaming because you continue to discuss women as if we are all the same somehow. And heres a clue- men get raped too. I dont know why you say well 'ONLY" have false accusations- are you implying that all reports are false? or that the majority are? what are you saying here, and why arent you ashamed of yourself?

 

[skeptifem]

eta-looks like they meant it isnt common! quite a typo- but i want to leave this post here because the information is good for people who seem to be under the impression that the majority of rape reports are false accusations.

Although false rape claims are common (see here),

I read it, and thats NOT what that says at all. from your link:

There were many, many more stories about actual sex crimes, and these anecdotes hardly show that false claims are common.

earlier it says that most sources say that the real statistics are unknown, or comparable to the rates of false reporting for other crimes (which is 2%). no where does it claim that its common.

arg here we are, discussing false rape accusations again. really guys, how important is this? to me even if just one of the 400,000 kits lead to a conviction of a rape that occured its important that it happens. You cant decide that these investigations arent important because youre so pissed off about false reporting. Essentially, concentrating on the false reports as a reason to take rape less seriously punishes victims of actual rape for something that they never did when they have already been traumatized.

 

[PuckishOne]

I read it, and thats NOT what that says at all.

Gah...I meant to type aren't common - sorry.

And I also apologize for my part in derailing this thread. You're right - this is meant to be a commentary on the criminal justice system, not a debate about the politics of rape accusations.

 

[skeptifem]

Gah...I meant to type aren't common - sorry.

And I also apologize for my part in derailing this thread. You're right - this is meant to be a commentary on the criminal justice system, not a debate about the politics of rape accusations.

thanks very much. it did seem out of place in your post! its all good.

 

[Travis]

I certainly didn't mean to imply that false rape accusations were common or comprised a good portion of the rape kits. Not being an expert I wouldn't even try to guess the actual percentage and if that link says it's 2% or less then I have no reason to dispute it.

 

[Zygar]

The day women take full responsibility for their actions, then we'll only have false rape accusations from the deranged.

Given the stigma placed on any woman who reports a rape, it seems that only the deranged would be willing to make a false accusation.

 

[Bikewer]

I can assure you that with an uncooperative victim, a charge of rape will never be sustained.
It's easy to prove that intercourse took place. It's quite another thing to prove that it was forced.
That's the normal defense in so-called "date rape" cases; the fellow freely admits that he had intercourse with the woman, maintaining that it was consensual. The woman claims otherwise.
Often, there is no physical evidence to speak of, because these are not normally violent occurrences. Most often a case, of the woman having second thoughts and demanding the man stop.....
With no witnesses, no evidence of brutality, and likely both individuals somewhat intoxicated at the time....It's a hard case to make.

I don't have any ready figures for "numbers of rape kits taken" vs. "numbers of subsequent warrant applications or grand jury sessions generated". But I'll wager the ratio is rather high in favor of "rape kits generated".
Again, I'd be interested in the time period as well. It's generally the case that items taken into evidence are maintained for a very long time; at least until the statute of limitations runs out.
Over a period of 5-7 years, with a population of 300 million, that figure does not sound quite so shocking.

 

[Magenta]

There's nothing in the article linked in the OP that suggests the lack of action is due to uncooperative complainants. Rather, it suggests a lack of resources and lack of political will do anything about it (at least in Los Angeles):

Law enforcement officials blame a lack of resources -- for starters, they need more crime lab staff. But it's hard not to surmise that the problem is, in reality, a matter of priorities. Among L.A. City Council members, only Jack Weiss has insisted on budget increases to address the rape kit backlog. This year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rejected the LAPD's funding request to hire more crime lab staff.

I wonder how many of the 400,000 would be date rape type complaints? Because it seems to me that rape in general is a crime where there are significant disincentives to report*: shame attaches to the victim; she might be blamed in some way (eg. what was she wearing, how much had she had to drink, did she consent and later change her mind); she might not be believed at all (there are often no witnesses and it's an act that she might otherwise engage in freely). The collection of evidence (described in the link in the OP) is hardly a pleasant way to pass the time, and then, if the case makes it to trial, there is the cheery prospect of cross-examination by the defence to look forward to. All this with a low prospect of any conviction.

It really makes me wonder whether significant numbers of women are turning up at rape treatment centres because they had "second thoughts"...

*Different jurisdiction, I know, but the Australian component of the International Violence against Women survey points to a low incidence of reporting (14%-16%), for various reasons:

Overall, the most common reason why women did not contact police (whether intimate or non-intimate violence was experienced) is because they felt the incident was too minor in nature. However almost half of the women indicated that their reason for not reporting was because they preferred to deal with it themselves, preferred to keep the matter private, or out of shame or embarrassment. Indeed a quarter of women (25%) who identified intimate partner violence through the IVAWS had never before spoken to anyone else about the incident.