Neil Steinberg: Rape victims get short shrift in Illinois

[redqueen]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/10414459-418/neil-steinberg-rape-victims-get-short-shrift-in-illinois.html

(snip)

Illinois State Police data reported 5,300 rapes statewide last year — more than 14 a day — though experts believe the actual number is triple that. Most go unreported, in part because the majority of rape victims are children — 54 percent, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

Another reason rapes go unreported is that the process of seeking medical care after a rape can itself be traumatic, since the vast majority of nurses at most hospitals fail to undergo the training needed to properly treat a rape victim.

Even though in Illinois such training is free through a program called SANE, or Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, a course designed to teach nurses to handle sexual assault cases and make sure they are paired with victims as they arrive at the hospital.

Of the more than 200 hospitals in Illinois, how many fully participate in the SANE program?

...

Two.


Not so sensationalist, but systemic issues are worthy of attention, too.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Neil Steinberg lost credibility to Chicagoans when he beat his wife.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3067921-418/steinberg-braun-chicago-neil-wife.html

[Nye Bevan]

2. Why not pass a state law requiring every hospital to have at least one nurse

who is trained in sexual assaults to be on duty at all times? This seems such an obvious thing to do; am I missing something here?