"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.

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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.