rape culture is also when:

[niyad]

there is a backlog of untested rape kits numbering in the hundreds of thousands across the country, some going back more than a decade, because women simply are not a high enough priority to actually have the agencies do their jobs.

(and we know how few rapes actually get reported, or acted upon)

[hrmjustin]

1. New York State's backlog is atrocious.

[niyad]

2. just a few numbers across the country:

Federal funding needed for rape kit reform

Over the past several years, news has poured in about thousands of untested rape kits found in police evidence facilities in cities across the country—20,000 in Texas, 12,669 in Los Angeles, 4,000 in Illinois, 5,523 in Ohio, 11,304 in Detroit and 12,164 in Memphis.

The discovery of each trove of untested kits is shocking to the public, concerning to survivors of sexual violence, disappointing to victim advocates, and humbling for law enforcement. The announcement that President Obama’s FY15 budget includes – for the first time – $35 million in dedicated funding, to support community response teams in their work to address untested rape kits in police storage facilities, is a relief to public officials committed to comprehensive reform.

We understand the opportunities for justice and healing contained in those untested kits. DNA from the kit can identify an unknown rapist, confirm the identity of a known assailant, corroborate the victim's account, and exonerate innocent suspects. In a jurisdiction like New York City, with a long-standing policy to test every rape kit booked into police evidence, the arrest rate for rape skyrocketed from 40 percent to 70 percent once mandatory rape kit testing was implemented. When Detroit tested its first 1600 kits, it found 100 serial rapists, and linked rape kits to crimes in 22 states and the District of Columbia.
. . .

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/202225-federal-funding-needed-for-rape-kit-reform#ixzz2xgKPdmw1
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

[hrmjustin]

4. Your right, this is rape culture at work.

This is 2014 and rape kits are not being tested.

[nomorenomore08]

5. Punishing the guilty and exonerating the innocent are not incompatible, and are both

vitally important. I know you know this, but some seem to pretend otherwise - as if prosecuting rape more aggressively will put more innocent men in jail, which doesn't have to be the case, especially with DNA testing.

[niyad]

8. exactly. but we still have morans like this commenter, who clearly has comprehension issues

(or a great deal of fear. one wonders why?)


Scott Kirk

26 February 2014 1:29pm


taking a guys sperm, and calling him a rapist, without telling him, so he can defend himself, is a serious perversion to American courts and legal system.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/24/untested-rape-kits-backlog-us-legislators

[thucythucy]

28. Thanks for this. Bookmarked for use

with those folks who will, inevitably, continue to argue that "there's no such thing as rape culture."

Thanks for the OP as well.

[niyad]

29. you are most welcome. yes, this is a battle we will, sadly, have to continue fighting.

[maddezmom]

3. Thanks to Wendy Davis, TX is finally doing something about it

-snip-
http://www.msnbc.com/all/doj-400000-untested-rape-kits-across-us
After Detroit tested the first 10% of its backlogged kits, authorities were able to link cases to 46 serial rapists.

More than 11,000 untested kits remain in Detroit, according to End the Backlog. In 2011, the Department of Justice approved funding for case studies in Wayne County, Mich.„ and Houston, Texas, to examine the cause of the backlogs.

The Texas state legislature began spending $11 million to clear its 20,000-kit backlog in September 2013, thanks to a three-year effort by state senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. Unlike many other states, there is no statute of limitations on rape cases in Texas.

[niyad]

6. thanks to wendy, indeed.

[sufrommich]

7. 11,000 untested rape kits in Detroit

going back 25 years discovered sitting in storage in 2009.

[niyad]

9. and now, in 2014, ten percent of the backlog has been tested, and look what they have found

already.

[sufrommich]

10. Many serial rapists already identified. One sent to jail

just this month.

[niyad]

11. something that should have happened years ago.

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. So...what happened to all those potential rape cases? Do we know?

Are there tens of thousands of women across the country who have submitted these kits and nothing ever happened with their cases?

Have these cases been prosecuted without resorting to the rape kits, i.e. when the identity of the rapist was known?

Does anybody actually know?

[sufrommich]

14. Many cases just fell off the radar screen.

Here's a good article for basic info:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/detroits-untested-rape-kits-backlog_n_1361873.html

[Warren DeMontague]

13. While the DEA gets 60 Billion a year to arrest pot smokers and brownie-eating grandmas.

I support a re-evaluation of our law enforcement priorities and expenditures. Letting those kits go untested is unconscionable.

[TheFrenchRazor]

20. word. nt

[niyad]

15. various reports have said that testing rape kits can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500. can

anyone explain why so much?

[Ilsa]

16. I believe it could be because of the volume

of contents. For example, pubic hair is combed to collect loose hair from the rapist. Then hair is pulled off the victim. Same is done with hair on the head. There is lots of evidence collected, including debris under fingernails.

[niyad]

18. a lot of forensic evidence collected in a murder as well. wonder how much they cost?

[Hekate]

23. Yeah, but murders are important crimes

If a man gets mugged by a stranger or beaten up by an acquaintance, does anyone in law enforcement ask him what he was wearing or if he had a drink, or if he met the eye of the assailant?

[niyad]

25. I know, how silly of me to think that rape just might be important!

[Warren DeMontague]

24. It costs over a million dollars per HOUR to fly shiny helicopters around looking for pot plants.

I don't know why the testing of the kits is so expensive, but I do think it would be money far better spent.

[niyad]

30. absolutely agree.

[marble falls]

17. Texas is years late. Shameful, shameful, shameful.

[TheFrenchRazor]

19. yep, and many cold cases can be solved virtually instantaneously by a simple DNA

analysis.

[idendoit]

21. Institutionalized sexism.

It's still the foundation of how one's gender becomes a liability in a surprising number of societies.

[Hekate]

22. Justice delayed is justice denied. It's atrocious. nt

[niyad]

26. . . .

[riqster]

27. Even Ohio's wingnut AG is pushing for testing of old rape kits.

They have been testing old kits from local departments around the state, and are finding matches in the state/federal DNA database.

Of course, how many active prosecutions are occurring as a result is unclear.

[niyad]

31. you make an excellent point.

[niyad]

32. . . .

[niyad]

33. . . .