Congress Addresses Rape Kit Backlog Crisis

category: Crime

Published November 24, 2009 @ 01:31PM PT

Each year, approximately 200,000 rapes are reported in the United States. The majority of these sexual assault victims undergo a medical examination immediately after the attack so that the police can obtain a rape kit -- a collection of any physical evidence the attacker may have left behind, including vaginal swabs, urine samples, blood tests, and fingernail scrapings. And then, in many cases, these kits sit collecting dust.

While no national statistical database exists for the exact number of untested kits, some estimates put the number at around 180,000. To address this national crisis of untested rape kit backlogs, Representatives Al Franken (D-MN), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have introduced the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009.

As it happens, this is not the first time that Congress has tried to address this crisis. In 2004, Congress passed the Debbie Smith Act, named after a rape victim whose attacker could have been caught six years sooner had her rape kit been processed in a timely manner. The Debbie Smith Act provides grant money to states for rape kit testing, but it has a major loophole: money from the program can be used for any DNA testing, not just rape kits.

If this new bipartisan bill passes, it would require applicants for Debbie Smith Act funds to specify what portion of the funds will be used to test untested rape kits. It would further mandate that these grant recipients have a plan to reduce their rape kit backlog by 50 percent in two years, and implement financial incentives for jurisdictions to aggressively attack and eliminate their backlogs. To avoid this problem in the future, the bill also provides for a national system for collecting data on rape kits.

And, in one giant leap for common decency, it would eliminate the shocking yet common practice of having the victims of sexual assault pay for their own rape kits.

I can think of few things more insulting to a woman who has just been raped than to ask her to undergo an invasive and potentially traumatizing examination immediately after she's been assaulted, and then let that evidence gather dust. In a time when it feel as though Congress is setting back women's issues with new legislation regarding abstinence-only education and abortion coverage, here is a law that advances the cause.

Currently, this bill is sitting in committee. Tell your Congressperson to support the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act today.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lisa Norwood

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Comments (11)

This is so important. One deterrant to getting a woman to report the rape committed against her (not that I believe that she has a responsibility to do so, because I do not and will stand by that firmly) is facing that thought of having to pay for that invasive rape collection kit. If she has insurance, great, maybe that will lessen the slap in the face, but if she doesn't? How much does a rape kit cost? Now she has to pay out of pocket, and maybe she isn't in a position to do that. On top of possibly not being believed by authorities or being blamed for her own rape, having to pay for evidence collection for a criminal investigation is probably not going to be a great incentive.

It is incredibly important that we pass this.

Posted by Brandann Hill-Mann on 11/24/2009 @ 05:09PM PT
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Excellent article Roxann! With all the nonsense this website posts about the harmlessness of sex offenders, it's nice to read a piece that speaks out for victims and introduces a productive way to get offenders behind bars. Thank you for presenting this important issue.

Posted by Dennis G. on 11/25/2009 @ 10:05AM PT
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Thank you for informing me. I will certainly take action now on this important legislation.

Posted by Daniela N. on 11/29/2009 @ 12:04PM PT
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In the last month or so, the San Francisco Chronicle reported a gang rape of a 16-year old student in Richmond, California. This is a continuing story; in FaceBook and now a university professor has assigned a class to write essays--a wider community has been affected deeply. (I cannot but feel that your 180,000 dusty rape testees did not get their proper and due share of community outrage; i.e., no publicity and so no action)

If you cannot find these stories at www.SFgate.com, please let me know, and I will collect them from my newspaper clippings file.

Posted by Patricia Hunt on 11/29/2009 @ 02:24PM PT
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Patricia, I am aware of that tragic story. Perhaps sadder than the rape itself is the sheer number of witnesses who never came to her aid, never called the police.

Posted by Roxann MtJoy on 11/30/2009 @ 07:22AM PT
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I just want to make a point that the people who have introduced the bill are Senators and this is a Senate bill. Contact your Senators.

Posted by Sue Nunn on 11/29/2009 @ 10:42PM PT
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Sue,

It was introduced by Al Franken and is in Congress, not in Senate.

Posted by Adam Thaler on 11/30/2009 @ 08:49AM PT
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Sue,

The letter addresses these Senators as if they were Representatives. If what I sign online goes to the Senators, as it appears it will.

Can we have a clarification before I sign?

By the way, Adam, no Senator can introduce a bill directly onto the floor of the House.

BTW< how about a name and number for the Bill?

J Parmer

Posted by J Parmer on 11/30/2009 @ 01:49PM PT
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The petition is correct. The bill is currently in the House, not the Senate. Both Representatives and Senators worked on it and a similar bill was already introduced into the Senate. The name of the bill is the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009 and the number is H.R. 4114.

Posted by Roxann MtJoy on 11/30/2009 @ 05:22PM PT
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thanks for the clarification Roxann.

Sue

Posted by Sue Nunn on 11/30/2009 @ 07:30PM PT
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My pleasure, that's what I am here for. I clarify posts and provide cheesecake tips on demand. :-)

Posted by Roxann MtJoy on 11/30/2009 @ 08:42PM PT
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Author

Roxy MtJoy is a freelance writer and case manager at a domestic violence shelter. Additionally, she is producing and directing a documentary on women's colleges in the United States, herself a proud graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Women's rights are something she is very passionate about. That, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Roxy lives happily with her husband and her cat in Los Angeles.