Today, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Nicholas Kristof discussing how rape victims can often wait "a year or more" for the results of their "rape kit." In his article, Kristof mentions a recent report from Human Rights Watch that found that at least 12,669 rape kits were sitting in police storage facilities in Los Angeles County. 450 of them had been there for over 10 years. In these cases, the statute of limitations had expired.
Tests weren't conducted much faster in Northern California. Kristof's op-ed relates the story of Detective Tim Marcia's quest to rush results on a "rape kit" he had collected for a particularly devastating rape. Detective Marcia feared that the perpetrator would strike again, so he asked the crime lab to rush results. When he was told he could expect results from the L.A. crime lab in about a year he personally drove the kit 350 miles to deliver it to Sacramento. Sacramento told him he may have to wait four months. While the kit sat on the shelf, the perpetrator had the chance to strike two more times. Police say he broke into the house of a pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl and sexually assaulted them.
On his blog, Kristof opines that rape kits may not receive the prompt attention they deserve because of "a deeply embedded skepticism among many veteran police officers about many rape cases..." This isn't entirely true. Back in October 2008, LA Times writer Richard Winton reported that officials blamed the backlog on insufficient funds. The problem isn't that police don't want to solve crimes, it is that we're not providing them with the funds to keep our streets safe. When it comes to heinous crimes -like rape- our first priority should be catching the perpetrator. We ask police officers to do this, but we don't give them the resources to do it quickly and safely.
Hopefully, Kristof's article will spur some action in this area, so that crime labs may receive the funding they need to process the evidence. More evidence will allow prosecutors to go after the right person, and will place the victim one step closer to seeing justice prevail.
Tests weren't conducted much faster in Northern California. Kristof's op-ed relates the story of Detective Tim Marcia's quest to rush results on a "rape kit" he had collected for a particularly devastating rape. Detective Marcia feared that the perpetrator would strike again, so he asked the crime lab to rush results. When he was told he could expect results from the L.A. crime lab in about a year he personally drove the kit 350 miles to deliver it to Sacramento. Sacramento told him he may have to wait four months. While the kit sat on the shelf, the perpetrator had the chance to strike two more times. Police say he broke into the house of a pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl and sexually assaulted them.
On his blog, Kristof opines that rape kits may not receive the prompt attention they deserve because of "a deeply embedded skepticism among many veteran police officers about many rape cases..." This isn't entirely true. Back in October 2008, LA Times writer Richard Winton reported that officials blamed the backlog on insufficient funds. The problem isn't that police don't want to solve crimes, it is that we're not providing them with the funds to keep our streets safe. When it comes to heinous crimes -like rape- our first priority should be catching the perpetrator. We ask police officers to do this, but we don't give them the resources to do it quickly and safely.
Hopefully, Kristof's article will spur some action in this area, so that crime labs may receive the funding they need to process the evidence. More evidence will allow prosecutors to go after the right person, and will place the victim one step closer to seeing justice prevail.
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