"Every two minutes, someone is raped in the United States. "

[ensho]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102359.html


A Test of Justice for Rape Victims


Every two minutes, someone is raped in the United States. Every year, more than 200,000 rape victims, mostly women, report their rapes to police. Most consent to the creation of a rape kit, an invasive process for collecting physical evidence (including DNA material) of the assault that can take up to six hours. What most victims don't know is that in thousands of cases, that evidence sits untested in police evidence lockers.

The backlog of untested evidence gained national attention in 2001 when Debbie Smith, a rape victim, testified before Congress. The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program was started in 2004 with the goal of processing the nearly 400,000 untested rape kits nationwide. But the program has been expanded to allow states to test backlogged DNA evidence from any crime. Even as the proportion of rape victims who report their assaults is increasing, the processing of rape evidence is still backlogged -- and the arrest rate of rapists is decreasing.

The House passed its reauthorization of the program last week, and the Senate is expected to do so soon. If Congress is serious about eliminating this backlog, lawmakers should amend the reauthorization bill to prioritize the testing of rape kits and remove controversial amendments that seek to create DNA profiles of all felons and certain arrestees who haven't been convicted of crimes.

-snip-

In 2004, Congress saw the rape kit backlog for what it was: a symbol of the criminal justice system's continuing failure to take rape seriously. It is time to realize the promise of the Debbie Smith Act and amend the related grant program so that states prioritize the testing of rape-kit evidence. This is the least we can do for rape victims who submit to invasive exams in the hope of bringing their assailants to justice.
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one of the things rape is, is torture.

there should be NO rape kit backlog! NONE.

[Bobbieo]

1. Is the increase in rape have any relationship to the use of viagra.etc. I'm serious!!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Doesn't look like it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800610.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Serious?

Since the vast majority of rapes are committed by men under 25, and the overwhelming majority of viagra users are over 55, there is a 30 year non-overlap between the two.

A better correlation could be drawn between the increase of rape/decrease of rape arrests and the increase of arrests and prosecution of marijuana users who never hurt anyone - when you are expending law enforcement resources on victimless crimes, the victims of real crimes are shortchanged.

[Bobbieo]

4. Thanks for the info - just wondering what you say makes sense.

[ensho]

8. nowadays the young use it recreationally - doing more then 1 pill

at a time, etc.

and talk of pro. athletes using it to enhance performance on the field

[lpbk2713]

9. In most cases rape is more about power and humiliation ...

than it is about sexual gratification. So probably not.

[Hydra]

5. And this doesn't even count the unreported

But this is a great signal to women- report it and nothing gets done.

Anyone else sick of unenforcement of laws on the books when they are asking for more?

[Lars39]

6. With backlogs like that,

how would you prove in a timely manner that you were raped in order to get an abortion? (You know,the law the nutjobs want to have on the books?)

[Luna_C_06]

7. You can't.

And that's the point.