Current Legislation in Congress to End the Backlog

While the Debbie Smith Act is a wonderful piece of legislation, there is room for improvement.  The act gives money to states and cities to be given to local law enforcement agencies. However, it does not require the state or the city to report the progress, if any, or enforce the agency to attempt to reduce and prevent a backlog.  The law also states that the money cannot be used to hire staff, which according to many studies, needs to be increased by 73%, so the money never goes unused.

Today, many lawmakers have promised to pass another piece of legislation that would be more effective in reducing and preventing a backlog.  The democratic representative from New York, Anthony Weiner, has proposed a bill that would require all agencies receiving grant money to collect DNA from all convicted felons still in prison and put the information into the national database, CODIS (The Combined DNA Index System).  The bill would also set benchmarks by which a certain amount of DNA kits must be tested.  The author of the original Debbie Smith Act, Carolyn Maloney (also a democratic representative from New York), has introduced a similar, yet separate, piece of legislation.

Representatives Al Franken (D-MN), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009.  This bill would specify how much of the funds will be used for testing the backlog.  It would also stipulate that the backlog is to be reduced by 50 percent at the end of two years.  This bill would also implement incentives, mostly financial, to jurisdictions that aggressively attack and eliminate their backlog. And like the Debbie Smith Act of 2004, it would create a system which would standardize the methods of collecting and processing rape kits.  It would also put a stop to a very shocking, yet common, practice of having the victim pay for their rape kits.

These are just a few ideas in Congress now on how to best address the backlog.  So far there has not been a decision either way.  I guess we must wait and see what is decided.

Rape Victim Advocacy

Rape is considered to be a rather taboo subject.  It is not often discussed in regular conversations.  What most people know about rape and the aftermath is from televisions shows like Law and Order: SVU.  But these shows only focus on the process of catching the perpetrator and getting a conviction. More often than not, there is no focus on how the victims cope with the traumatic experience.  This is where rape victim advocates come into play.  Most advocates are normal people who volunteer to help the men and women who are sexually assaulted. They go through rigorous training (one site I found said 40 hours of training).

Here are many of the services that an advocate can provide (found at Rape Victim Advocacy Program):

• Providing information about the trauma of rape.
• Explaining the available options to the victim.
• Accompanying and supporting the victim during a sexual assault examination.
• Accompanying and supporting the victim during police interviews.
• Accompanying and supporting the victim during court proceedings.
• Accompanying and supporting the victim during University of Iowa proceedings.
• Helping the victim with accommodations regarding school and/or work.
• Providing the victim with referrals to other resources.
• Helping the victim with follow-up counseling and support.
• Assisting family members, friends and significant others

Advocates provide the victim with legal and medical information throughout the duration of the case.  But most importantly, they provide emotional support. An advocate can be thought of as the protector of the victim.  The advocate will not allow anything to happen that could, in any way, jeopardize the mental or physical health of the victim. An advocate can easily become the closest person to a rape victim.

Debbie Smith's Story

In this post I will be examining the events that eventually led to the Debbie Smith Act of 2004.

On May 3^rd, 1989, while spending the afternoon in her Virginia home, Debbie Smith was attacked by a masked man.  Her assailant came in through the back door, dragged her to a wooded area where he robbed and raped her.  And like many women, Debbie simply wanted to forget the whole thing had ever happened. She wanted to take a shower and wash away the memory.  Her husband, however, convinced her to go to the police and have a rape kit done. Debbie says now, looking back, that was the best decision she could have made.  And six years later, on July 26, 1995, after finally being pushed through the backlog, her rape kit identified her attacker.  He was in prison for a separate offense, and had been arrested only a few months after he had raped her.  Debbie, however, had to wait six years, living in fear that he would return, until she was finally granted the knowledge that she was safe.

However, many women are not that lucky. Some cases pass the statute of limitations before the kit has been tested, which means that the case can never go to court and justice will never be had for that victim.  After finally hearing that her rapist was behind bars, Debbie began a cross-country appeal to have DNA testing and matching a regular and consistent part of every rape investigation. She even appealed to House Government Reform Committee.  Then on November 1, 2004 the Debbie Smith Act, authored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, was signed into legislation.

Implications Post

There are many upsetting statistics related to rape.  And if this trend of not testing rape kits continues then those statistics are going to get even more alarming.  Across the United States there are thousands of rape kits that have not been tested, and if this continues there could be a loss of confidence in the justice system which would lead to more crimes.

Women like Valerie Neumann, who was raped and waited over three years for her kit to be tested, have lost their faith in the justice system, after their experience with it.  If women do not feel as though their case will be treated with the concern and care that it deserves, then the number of women who report their rapes will drop severely. This will allow for more rapists to go free, when now only six percent ever see jail time.  Once rapists realize that the chance of getting caught is very low they will be more likely to rape again.  This will inevitably create a never ending circle of unreported rapes and unprosecuted rapists.

Theory Post

In my debate there are two sides: the victim’s and the state’s.  The state does recognize the fact that the backlog is a bad thing; however it says that there is not enough time or resources to test all of the kits in the backlog.  The victims, their families, and their supporters, like the Human Rights Watch, do not believe that the lack of resources should be a factor in the testing process.  They believe that the kits should be tested no matter what.

I do feel that there is a way to stop this polarized debate.  I think that the state should test the both the oldest and the most recent rape kits produced.  There are probably many that will not be able to be tested because the statue of limitations has run out.  I do not think that these should be thrown out; I think they should be tested after the backlog of the kits within the statute of limitations has been tested. I do realize that this could be considered a waste of time and resources, but I also think that the state owes the victim the knowledge of who attacked them and whether or not the assailant will be prosecuted for another attack.

The justice system should work its way through the backlog to the middle, and hopefully through more investigation links can be made between cases, through DNA, and then if a pattern is found, victimology and MO.  The testing of the older kits would, hopefully give the police a chance to investigate these cases further and produce links between those cases and new ones.  (Remember the average serial rapist commits 7 to 11 rapes, all of which could be prosecuted if the connection was made)  The reason I chose the oldest and the newest is because: 1- I do not want the older ones to slip past the statute of limitations deadline before the cases can be prosecuted and 2- I think by testing the newest ones, none would be entering the backlog, therefore allowing the backlog to shrink.

UPDATE: Analysis Post

When I was first introduced to the topic of the thousands of untested rape kits across America I was sitting at home watching the CNN Evening News and it was showing Mariska Hartigay’s emotional testimony in Congress.  Since she plays Detective Benson in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (which did an episode to shed light on the topic), she receives many letters from rape victims, many of whom say their rape kit was never tested.  And this is easy to believe.  The organization Human Rights Watch first launched their investigation in 2008, where they took an inventory of the backlog in Los Angeles, CA, where there are over 7 thousand untested kits sitting in storage.  And LA is not the only city, Chicago also has a backlog.    CBS News investigated this topic and compiled a list of cities and states that have high numbers of untested kits.  Rape is very traumatic, of that, there is no doubt.  Many rapes are very brutal.  I found an article that gives a rather detailed and graphic account of the rape of Helena Lazaro (please take caution while reading), and another with the statistics related to her rape.

Now, I am assuming that many people do not know the details of what happens during a rape kit.  I found an article that has a brief, yet vivid, overview of the process.  This process is very invasive and personal, and by some accounts, painful; and can take up to six hours.  A rape kit takes hours to prepare, so many people ask why they are not being tested?  And the answer is: money and resources.  It costs from $250 to $1500 to test one kit, and that does not include the cost of paying the lab technicians.  Not only this, but DNA testing and the other tests that are used while testing a rape kit take time. So the kit itself will take a while before it is ready to be sent back to the police.  There is also the matter of an improper use of resources.  Many states are given grants, some through The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, to try and end the backlog, but not all of them are using the money or using the money for its intended purpose.  There are also other grants given to states to be used for testing DNA evidence, but does not indicate the kind of cases to focus on.

Another problem with not testing the kits, is that it allows the perpetrators to go on raping; it leads to more crimes.  The rapist of Helena Lazaro went on to rape another woman, and that only of what we know.  Most rapes are committed by serial rapists, and studies have shown that on average a serial rapist can commit 7 to 11 rapes.  And this could be avoided if kits were tested. Also, not testing the kits betrays the trust of the victim.  In many cases, the victim is unaware that their kit has not been tested, because the state is not required to make that notification.

There is a program backed by Congress to help end the backlog; however this program is not as effective as many people wish it could be.  Through all of the articles I have read, there seem to be a consensus that these kits need to be tested. And the Human Rights Watch have asked people to help eliminate the backlog.  Many people have come together to help promote the end of the backlog, like Neal  Baer and Mariska Hartigay.

Analysis Post

When I was first introduced to the topic of the thousands of untested rape kits across America I was sitting at home watching the CNN Evening News and it was showing Mariska Hartigay’s emotional testimony in Congress.  Since she plays Detective Benson in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (which did an episode to shed light on the topic) she receives many letters from rape victims, many of whom say their rape kit was never tested.  And this is easy to believe.  The organization Human Rights Watch first launched their investigation in 2008, where the took an inventory of the backlog inLos Angeles, CA, where there are over 7 thousand untested kits sitting in storage.  And LA is not the only city, Chicago also has a backlog.  CBS News investigated this topic and compiled a list of of cities and states that have high numbers of untested kits.  Rape is very traumatic, of that, there is no doubt.  Many rapes are very brutal.  I found an article that gives a rather detailed and graphic account of the rape of Helena Lazaro (please take caution while reading), and another with the statistics related to her rape.

Now, I am assuming that many people do not know the details of what happens during a rape kit.  I found an article that has a brief, yet vivid, overview of the process.  This process is very invasive and personal, and by some accounts, painful.  A rape kit takes hours to prepare, so many people ask why they are not being tested?  And the answer is: money and resources.  There is also the matter of an improper use of resources.  Many states are given grants to try and end the backlog, but not all of them are using the money or using the money for its intended purpose.

Another problem with not testing the kits, is that it allows the perpetrators to go on raping; it leads to more crimes.  The rapist of Helena Lazaro went on to rape another woman, and that only of what we know..  Most rapes are commited by serial rapists, and studies have shown that on average a serial rapist can commit 7 to 11 rapes.  And this could be avoided if kits were tested. Also, not testing the kits betrays the trust of the viticm.

Through all of the articles I have read, there seem to be a consensus that these kits need to be tested. And the Human Rights Watch have asked people to help eliminate the backlog.  Many peoplehave come together to help promote the end of the backlog, like Neal  Baer and Mariska Hartigay.