'Indifference' Over Rape Allegations Contributes To Backlog Of Untested Rape Kits, NYT Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 04 May 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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The collection of evidence for a rape case is a "grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours," producing what is known as a "rape kit -- which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested" -- New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece. "Stunningly often, the rape kit isn't tested at all because it's not deemed a priority," Kristof writes, adding that when kits are tested, it is done at "such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results." He continues that although advancements in DNA technology make it possible to "find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren't using them properly -- and those who work in the field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases." He adds that "this isn't justice; it's indifference."

Kristof writes that Sarah Tofte, author of a recent Human Rights Watch report documenting the rape kit "back log," said, "The criminal justice system is still ill equipped to deal with rape and not that good at moving rape cases forward." The report found that Los Angeles County at last count had 12,669 rape kits in police storage, Kristof writes. In addition, more than 450 of these kits had been in storage for more than 10 years, and in many cases, the statute of limitations had expired. Kristof continues that "one measure of the indifference is that no one even bothers to count the number of rape kits sitting around untested," as no significant national figures exist. Kristof writes that one likely reason police departments do not treat rape kits with urgency is expense, as each kit costs up to $1,500 to test. However, there "also seems to be a broad distaste for rape cases as murky, ambiguous and difficult to prosecute, particularly when they involve (as they often do) alcohol or acquaintance rape," he notes. Kristof adds that Charlie Beck, a deputy police chief of Los Angeles County, said that the department since the start of the Human Rights Watch investigation has begun routine rape kit testing, with cold hits doubling as a result. In addition, New York City, which "has made a concerted effort over the last decade to test every kit that comes in," has seen its arrest rate for reported rape cases jump from 40% to 70%, Kristof says.

Kristof writes that "the refusal to test rape kits seems a throwback to the same antediluvian skepticism about rape as a traumatic crime." He concludes, "It's what we might expect in Afghanistan, not in the United States" (Kristof, New York Times, 4/30).

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