Men to join Detroit effort to pay for rape kit testing

[inanna]

Source: Detroit Free Press

12:02 a.m. EDT June 28, 2016

More than 100 men to join African American 490 Challenge to raise money to get abandoned rape kits tested

Eight months after hundreds of African-American women stood up and announced plans to help pay for thousands of abandoned rape kits to be tested and the crimes investigated, more than 100 black men and dozens of businesses and organizations will join them, the groups will announce today.

The men plan not only to raise money but also to become eyes and ears across the community to increase safety for women and children.

The campaign’s chairman, Ron Rickman, said his message to African-American men in Detroit is simple: "This ain't right in our community. What are we going to do to protect our women?"

<snip>

“I sent out a mandate that I want my guys in the community with their eyes and ears out, watching, looking, being aware, watching for our residents, not only African Americans, but all of our residents, especially our children for safety. Watch for suspects. Watch for guys who don’t seem right.”

Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/27/men-join-detroit-effort-pay-rape-kit-testing/86447402/

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[TreasonousBastard]

1. Good for them, but...

WTF are thousands of rape kits doing untested? Shouldn't have to get the community to pay for basic stuff the state should be doing.

It's like "the community" buying textbooks their taxes have already paid for.

[justiceischeap]

2. There are thousands upon thousands of rape kits across the US

that have gone untested and remain in evidence rooms of many a police station. Many municipalities just don't have the "funds" to test rape kits--yet they do have the funds to purchase military-grade weaponry from the US gov't. I would love it if the US gov't made purchase of these items contegent upon having rape kits tested.

[marble falls]

3. Over 400,000 untested rape kits.....

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/23/how-the-u-s-ended-up-with-400-000-untested-rape-kits.html

How the U.S. Ended Up With 400,000 Untested Rape Kits
Memphis just discovered hundreds of untested rape kits—adding to its backlog of more than 12,000 kits collecting dust on police shelves. And the city is hardly alone.

The history of crime solving can be divided into two periods: Before DNA and After DNA. The introduction of forensic evidence in the mid-1980s completely changed the way we solve crimes. Matching crime scene evidence with potential perpetrators at a 99 percent success rate, DNA testing is regularly used to convict murderers and get the wrongly accused out from behind bars.

And perhaps no crime is better suited to DNA testing than sexual assault, as perpetrators leave behind a host of biological material—skin, hair, bodily fluids—on victims’ bodies. Yet while forensic examinations, during which evidence is collected using a sexual assault evidence collection kit—or rape kit—are available to all rape survivors in the U.S. free of charge, only 3 percent of rapists will ever serve a day in prison.

The recent discovery of 200 untested rape kits in Memphis, Tennessee, adding to the city’s backlog of over 12,000, is indicative of why it’s so rare that rapists get convicted.

Memphis’ backlog makes up only a fraction of the estimated 400,000 untested rape kits collecting dust in police evidence warehouses across the country. As local law enforcement agencies scramble to test the long-ignored boxes of evidence, and lawmakers work to figure out how to prevent future backlogs, one must ask why so many rape kits managed to end up on the shelf in the first place.

[justiceischeap]

5. "..the city’s backlog of over 12,000, is indicative of why it’s so rare that rapists get convicted."

I just needed to add to this quote:

Along with the willingness of Prosecutors to let these cases go to pad their win columns.

[NWCorona]

8. To the point that thousands have been thrown out untested due to statute of limitations running out.

It sickens me to my core.

[Igel]

4. The state "should" be doing a lot.

Thing is, we don't all agree on what that "should" includes.

Either way, it's those paying taxes who pay for it--whether that community's paying for the kits through the state or directly.


"Our women", though, is a bit of a strange expression. We've recently had a lot of outcry over the very idea of using terms that denote possession in regards to human being--it has to be racist or sexist to claim ownership like that. (Then again, that outrage had the form of logic while denying the power thereof and mostly just affirmed the power of outrage rooted in ill will to appear to be reason.)

[dembotoz]

6. guess it is cooler to call to hire more cops than to process rape kits

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. I wonder how many states with thousands of untested rape kits

have the death penalty. Maintaining death row and paying for the appeals process in death penalty cases is extremely expensive. Maybe they should ditch the DP and spend the money on rape kit testing.