President Obama just signed a "bill of rights" for survivors of sexual assault

[NYC Liberal]

Source: Vox

But for the first time, thanks to a bill President Barack Obama signed on Friday, victims of sexual assault now have a specific set of rights under federal law when it comes to the evidence collected from their own bodies.

“Beginning today, our nation’s laws stand firmly on the side of survivors of sexual assault,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who sponsored the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act. The bill passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate last month before heading to Obama’s desk.

The new law says that victims have the right:

[*]• Not to be charged for a sexual assault evidence collection kit.
[*]• To be informed of testing results.
[*]• To be notified in writing 60 days beforehand if the kit is going to be destroyed, and to request that the kit be preserved.
[*]• To have the kit preserved for the entire applicable statute of limitations. (So if the statute of limitations for reporting rape is five years, the state can’t just destroy a rape kit after six months if the victim hasn’t decided to press charges yet.)

Shaheen says the bill was inspired by meeting with Amanda Nguyen, who had a terrible experience with the criminal justice system after being sexually assaulted in Massachusetts in 2013. Nguyen says that although she reported her assault and had a rape kit performed, she was given no information about her legal options.

Read more: http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/10/7/13200350/sexual-assault-survivors-bill-of-rights-obama-shaheen

[Doreen]

1. right direction

I still think the law should be tougher and statute of limitation on sexual assault should not have a limit.

[christx30]

2. Good on Obama. Glad he's doing this.

But this election is a nightmare. To risk going from someone that helps sexual assault victims to someone that creates them.
Obama is still in office and I already miss him.

[4lbs]

3. How ironic that it would happen on the same day we have this new Trump video where Trump

basically brags about sexually assaulting women.


However, this is a great bill, regardless of the orange idiot's past (and probably current) antics.

[arithia]

4. now if we can only provide funding for rape kit testing

Countless kits are sitting in warehouses across the country, untested, because police departments either lack the resources to handle them or just don't care to.

Sometimes politicians even pass feel-good bills to require kits to be tested... but they provide no funds to pay for the lab work or training officers on correct procedures.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. That's the Obama for whom we voted!

Thank you Mr President.

[burrowowl]

6. K&R!!!!!!

And funding for testing.
I hope there are penalty's for non-compliance.

[Sunlei]

7. Good news! A Federal Law the thousands of local police departments should clearly understand.

[progressoid]

8. This, in stark contrast to the actions of trump.

[Kathy M]

9. K&R