Rape kit

A rape kit—also known as a sexual assault kit (SAK), a sexual assault forensic evidence (SAFE) kit, a sexual assault evidence collection kit (SAECK), a sexual offense evidence collection (SOEC) kit, or a physical evidence recovery kit (PERK)[1]—is a package of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following an allegation of sexual assault. The evidence collected from the victim can aid the criminal rape investigation and the prosecution of a suspected assailant.[2][3][4]

Louis R. Vitullo developed the first kit in the late 1970s in order to provide a more uniform protocol for evidence collection after sexual assaults.[5] For years, the standardized tool was referred to as a Vitullo kit.[2][5] Today it is colloquially referred to as a rape test kit or a rape kit, which is used interchangeably to refer to the specific evidence that is obtained through the use of the rape kit.[6]

Description and use

Medical professionals learn how to use a rape kit at Camp Phoenix near Kabul, Afghanistan.

Kit contents

A rape kit consists of small boxes, microscope slides and plastic bags for collecting and storing evidence such as clothing fibers, hairs, saliva, blood, semen or body fluid.

Rape kits vary by location, but commonly include the following items:[1][2][7][8]

Examiners

Rape kit examinations are performed by medical professionals, most commonly physicians and nurses.[9] In some locations, examiners have received special training on performing sexual assault forensic exams. For example, many hospitals and health facilities in the United States and Canada have sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) who are trained to collect and preserve forensic evidence and to offer emotional support to the victim.[10][11] According to the International Association of Forensic Nurses, the number of SANE programs has steadily increased throughout the world since its introduction in the United States in the 1970s.[12] As of 2016, over 700 SANE programs exist in the United States, Canada, and Australia.[12] SANEs were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2001.[13] And Japan has had a limited number of SANEs since as early as 2007.[14]

Evidence collection

The process of collecting a rape kit is highly invasive and extremely time-consuming.[15] The physical examination begins with the victim disrobing while standing on a large sheet of butcher paper, which collects any trace evidence that may fall from the victims body or clothes.[16] The victim's clothing is carefully examined for trace evidence before each garment is individually packaged with sheets of paper between folds to protect against cross-contamination.[16]

Examiners then collect biological samples of semen, blood, saliva and other bodily fluids by swabbing the victim's genitals, rectum, mouth and body surfaces.[10] Examiners also collect fingernail scrapings and pluck head and pubic hairs.[17] If the facility has the means, and the victim consents, the examiner will also take photographs of genital injuries using a colposcope.[17]

In addition to facilitating the collection of biological samples and injuries, the kit guides the documentation of the victim's medical history, emotional state, and account of the assault.[18] The entire process of collecting the rape kit takes between 2.5 and 5 hours to complete.[15][18][19][20]

Testing

Upon completion, the rape kit is sealed and typically transferred to local law enforcement. In the United States, if the victim is undecided about reporting the rape, the kit may instead be stored at the exam facility or at a law enforcement facility as an "anonymous" kit.[21]

The law enforcement agency conducting the rape investigation can send the rape kit, in whole or in part, to the forensic science crime lab for analysis. Forensic scientists will try to develop a DNA profile of the assailant using the samples collected in the rape kit.[22] If successful, the crime lab will search the DNA profile against DNA profiles of convicted offenders and other crime scenes using a DNA database. For example, crime labs in the United States run DNA profiles through the three-tiered Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which was developed in 1990 and contains DNA profiles at the national, state, and local level.[22] Similarly, the need to solve sexual assault crimes in Brazil led the Forensic DNA Research Institute of Federal District Civil Police to create a DNA database in 1998 containing evidence specifically collected in sexual assault cases.[23] DNA matches in such databases not only aid in identifying the assailant where unknown to the victim, but also may help determine whether the assailant (known or unknown to the victim) is a serial rapist. These findings eventually may be made available for use in court.[22]

In some cases, the rape kit does not yield DNA evidence and the forensic scientist is unable to develop a DNA profile of the assailant. This may be because the assailant did not leave DNA behind, or too much time passed before the victim had a rape kit exam performed, or the rape kit evidence may have been improperly collected, stored or handled.[24]

Influence on sexual assault cases

Rape kit evidence can aid the criminal rape investigation and the prosecution of a suspected assailant.[2] It may also be used to exonerate the wrongly accused.[25] The benefit of rape kit evidence depends in part on the character of the assault.

Stranger cases

In stranger sexual assault cases, the assailant is unknown to the victim. In such cases, rape kits may be instrumental in identifying the assailant through DNA profiling, which research suggests may help lead to an arrest. For example, a 2009 study examining sexual assault cases from two of 389 crime laboratories in the United States found that stranger-rape cases with forensic evidence were 24 times more likely to produce an arrest than stranger-rape cases without forensic evidence.[26]

Non-stranger cases

The vast majority of sexual assaults are non-stranger (or "acquaintance") cases where the victim knows the assailant.[26]:331[27]:256 While identifying a suspect is not at issue, the kit's forensic evidence can be used to confirm offender identity in acquaintance rape cases.[25] The kits may also be used to determine whether the offender committed other crimes.[25]

In many acquaintance sexual assault cases, the accused assailant will defend the accusations as consensual encounters.[26]:331 In such cases, rape kit evidence that documents the victim's injuries, e.g., photographs of bruising, is a useful tool to corroborate allegations of nonconsensual sexual contact. Research shows, for instance, that cases where the victim suffers a serious injury, filing charges and reaching convictions is more likely.[28]

In other acquaintance cases, the assailant may deny that sexual intercourse occurred at all. In such cases, specimens that show either sperm or specific enzymes that are unique to seminal fluid (enzymes prostatic acid phosphates or acid phophatase) can be used to prove sexual contact.[10]

Serial rape cases

Serial rape is defined as an assailant that has raped two or more victims.[29] Serial rape may involve sexual partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, and it may be in the same family, in the same or different regions of a city, or in different cities or states.[23]

In both stranger and non-stranger sexual assault cases, DNA testing of rape kit evidence and DNA database hits help identify serial sexual assaults.[25] For example, a 2016 study of 900 previously untested rape kits in Detroit, Michigan found 259 CODIS hits, which included stranger and non-stranger sexual assault DNA profiles. Sixty-nine of the hits were serial sexual assault hits, 15 of which were acquaintance (non-stranger) sexual assault cases.[25]

In a study analyzing the status of Brazil's DNA database in 2015, researchers found 223 matches related to 78 serial rapists.[23] At the time, the DNA database contained 650 profiles from one type of analysis of samples collected in rape kits—male autosomal STR profiles—and 420 profiles from a second type of analysis—complete 23Y-STR profiles.[23]

Barriers to use

Backlog

Rape kit backlog refers to the problem of untested sexual assault kits.[17] The problem is twofold: it involves both the issue of rape kits not being submitted to crime labs for testing and the related issue of crime labs not having enough resources to test all of the submitted kits.[25][30]

In the United States, national surveys of law enforcement agencies suggest there may be upwards of 200,000 untested rape kits in police property across the country.[31]

Destruction

In some locations, rape kits are destroyed before ever being tested and sometimes without notifying the victim.[32] For victims of sexual assault in the United States, for example, there is no right to retain the rape kit until the statute of limitations expires.[32] Instead, policies in some jurisdictions instruct that rape kits be destroyed after six months of storage at a police facility.[32] That is 2.5 years prior to the expiration of the shortest statute of limitations on rape found in the United States.[33]

Inaccessibility

Victims' access to rape kits is often limited. In many locations, the non-availability of rape kits prevents victims from obtaining medico-legal evidence that would otherwise aid in the criminal investigation and prosecution of their assailant. In Nigeria, for example, a study analyzing sexual assault in Ile-Ife found that the majority of victims went to the hospital within 24 hours of a sexual assault, but did not receive a forensic medical examination because rape kits have yet to be introduced in the country.[27]

In locations where rape kits are available, a lack of trained examiners may still impede the ability of victims to undergo timely sexual assault examinations.[34] Shortages force victims to wait hours for an exam or to travel long distances in order to have a rape kit performed within the recommended 72 hour timeframe.[35][36] These effects have been seen in Canada and rural America, where the shortage of examiners has recently been identified.[35][36][37]

Insufficiently trained examiners may also lead to deficiencies in rape kits. A study of rape kit collection in South Africa found that rape kits were sometimes inappropriately used, missing proper specimens, or missing necessary forms.[38] The study recommended improved training of health care workers to overcome these deficiencies.[38]

Cost

The cost of rape kits is a barrier to use in many locations where the victim is billed for the collection of forensic evidence. Collecting a rape kit reportedly costs upwards of $1000.[39] In some countries, reimbursement for the cost is contingent on the victim reporting the crime to police. In Japan, for example, a sexual assault victim must pay for the rape kit upfront, but police will reimburse medical fees if the victim reports the assault.[40]

Victims of sexual assault in the United States faced similar hurdles until the 2005 reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which requires states to pay for the cost of the rape kit regardless of the victim's decision to report the assault to the police.[41] Under the more recent 2013 VAWA reauthorization, which took effect in March 2015, victims also cannot be required to pay the upfront cost of the exam. States may still require victims to submit claims for the rape kit exams to their personal insurance providers, as long as they are not billed for a deductible or a copay.[42]

By country

The United States

In the United States, rape kit costs, availability, proper implementation of the invasive exam, and backlogs have historically presented problems for victims of rape seeking justice.[43][44][45]

As of May 2009 the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2005 went into effect,[7] requiring state governments who wish to continue receiving federal funding to pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" or "anonymous rape tests". These tests allow victims too traumatized to go to the police to undergo the procedure at hospitals. The hospitals maintain the collected evidence in a sealed envelope identified only by a number, unless police access its contents upon the victim's decision to press charges. While the practice had been recommended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since at least 1999, and was already followed at some health clinics, colleges and hospitals, and in the state of Massachusetts, many jurisdictions up until then refused to pay the estimated $800 cost of the rape examination without a police report filed by the victim.[46]

In 2011, the National Institute of Justice published a report, "The Road Ahead: Unanalyzed Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases", providing an overview of deep problems nationwide and the contributing factors to ongoing bureaucratic difficulties. These backlogs and delays may lead to a lack of justice for victims, the report notes, and "in worst-case scenarios…lead to additional victimization by serial offenders or the incarceration of people wrongly convicted of a crime". Findings include: 1) As an indicator of how widespread this problem has become, “18 percent of unsolved alleged sexual assaults that occurred from 2002 to 2007 contained forensic evidence that was still in police custody (not submitted to a crime lab for analysis)"; 2) One major challenge is that 43% of law enforcement agencies "do not have a computerized system for tracking forensic evidence, either in their inventory or after it is sent to the crime lab"; 3) On average, 50–60% of kits test positive for biological material that does not belong to the victim; 4) Survey responses indicated that there may be some misunderstanding of the value of biological evidence. Forty-four percent of the law enforcement agencies said that one of the reasons they did not send evidence to the lab was that a suspect had not been identified. Fifteen percent said that they did not submit evidence because "analysis had not been requested by a prosecutor".[47]

By state

California

According to a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, Los Angeles, California has the largest known rape kit backlog in the United States, with at least 12,669 languishing in storage facilities of the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and 47 independent police departments in Los Angeles County, and "smaller, but not inconsiderable" backlogs residing at police crime labs. These backlogs consist of both kits stored in evidence storage facilities, for which DNA analysis is not requested by investigating detectives, and those submitted for testing at crime lab facilities, but which have not been tested in a timely manner. Although authorities have struggled to address the backlog problem, their attempts have reportedly been hampered by funding issues and politics. As a consequence of these backlogs, assault survivors are often not informed of the status of their rape kit or their case.[45]

Illinois

Across Illinois, where law enforcement and prosecutors handle sex crimes differently, a police backlog of nearly 8,000 rape kits accumulated between 1995 and 2009, only 20% of which were tested. Effective September 1, 2010, The Illinois Senate's Sexual Assault Submissions Act (Senate Bill 3269) requires law enforcement agencies to submit all evidence collected by rape kits for laboratory analysis within 180 days after the effective date of October 15, 2010, with a written notice to the State Police. Illinois was the first state to adopt such a law, setting a precedent for other states to follow. As of January 1, 2011, the Illinois House of Representatives Bill 5976 addresses victims' confidentiality rights and the timely processing of rape kit evidence. Both bills passed the Illinois General Assembly unanimously, and were signed by Governor Pat Quinn.[43][48][49][50][51]

New York

In New York State, a rape kit is also known as Sexual Offense Evidence Collection (SOEC) kit.[52] As of 1999, New York City in particular harbored nearly 17,000 untested rape kits, which were eventually eliminated with outside labs. In 2007, the city opened a $290 million forensic biology lab. In 2015, the New York District Attorney's Office announced that they would be awarding $38 million in grants to jurisdictions across the country in order to test backlogged rape kits.[53]

Texas

In Texas, it is considered unnecessary to administer a rape kit after 72 hours following the attack, as it is considered unlikely for useful evidence to be collected, though other types of evidence may still be documented during the medical examination, such as survivor statements, and visible injuries such as bruises, lacerations or bite marks, through visual inspection, photographs and transcription .[54]

Washington, D.C.

In Washington, D.C., prior to the Violence Against Women Act, which went into effect in 2009, rape kits, despite being standard issue in hospitals, have historically been difficult to obtain, according to an April 2009 report by Washington City Paper. According to the report, rape survivors historically waited up to 12 hours in D.C. emergency rooms while the OB-GYNs present would attend to more immediate emergencies, such as births, after which the invasive exam would be performed by inexperienced residents, who made poor witnesses at trial. The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program was established in 2000 at Howard University Hospital in order to address this concerns, after a decade of attempts by Denise Snyder, executive director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), to find a major hospital willing to host the program, most of whom either cited economic concerns or declined to respond to her inquiries. After Howard adopted the program, survivors encountered the problem of requiring police authorization before receiving a rape examination, which is attributed by Snyder to the desire to maintain low crime rates on the part of law enforcement agencies, which the Washington Paper depicted as unsympathetic to the plight of the rape survivors profiled in their report. Detective Vincent Spriggs, of D.C.'s Sexual Assault Unit, cites instances of false or unconvincing rape accusations, and requests for rape kits by woman who wish to have pregnancy tests or the morning-after pill administered, as an obstacle to more open use of the kits. In 2008, Howard University canceled the SANE program, after which it reopened under the supervision of the mayor’s office.[7]

Federal funding for backlog

The federal government established the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to share DNA matches among federal, state and local jurisdictions. The federal DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 and Debbie Smith Act authorizations in 2004 and 2008 provide additional funding to state and local jurisdictions to help clear their rape kit testing backlogs.

As of 2014, the federal government estimates a nationwide backlog of 400,000 rape kits, including many from the 1990s when evidence was collected but not tested for DNA due to high costs and more primitive techniques available at the time.[55]

Depictions in media

The problem of rape kit backlogs was employed as a significant plot point in "Behave", the September 29, 2010 episode of the television crime drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which depicts a police sex crimes unit. In the episode, detectives investigate the case of a woman, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, raped multiple times by the same man over the course of fifteen years, leading them to discover that the perpetrator has raped women all over the United States. The detectives attempt to contact the Special Victims Units in other cities, only to discover that most of them have never tested the majority of their collected rape kits.[56][57] The episode was based on the real-life story of advocate and survivor Helena Lazaro.[58]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 What is a Rape Kit? Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network; 2009; Accessed October 13, 2010
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pass, Allan D.; Embar-Seddon, Ayn (2009). Forensic Science. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. pp. 877–880. ISBN 9781587654237.
  3. ↑ Rape at familydoctor.org; September 2000; Accessed October 13, 2010
  4. ↑ Sexual Abuse and Assault Against Women at WebMD; Accessed October 13, 2010
  5. 1 2 Ravitz, Jessica (November 21, 2015). "The Story Behind the First Rape Kit". CNN. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Forensic Science Glossary at forensicsciencecentral.co.uk; Accessed October 13, 2010
  7. 1 2 3 Hess, Amanda. "Test Case: You're Not a Rape Victim Unless Police Say So". Washington City Paper. April 9, 2010; Page 2 of 3
  8. ↑ Pentok "Vaginal swab kit"
  9. ↑ Jones, Helen (January 2015). "Rape kit.". Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science.
  10. 1 2 3 Ort, Jennifer A. (September 2002). "The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner". The American Journal of Nursing. 102 (9): 24GG. JSTOR 3522934. doi:10.1097/00000446-200209000-00026.
  11. ↑ "What Is a Rape Kit?". Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. RAINN. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  12. 1 2 "SANE Program Listing". International Association of Forensic Nurses. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  13. ↑ Cowley, R.; Walsh, E.; Horrocks, J. (2014). "The role of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner in England: nurse experiences and perspectives". Journal of Forensic Nursing. 10 (2): 77–83. PMID 24847871. doi:10.1097/JFN.0000000000000026.
  14. ↑ Mclean, Ian; L'Heureux, Stephan (2007). "Sexual assault aftercare services in Japan and the UK". Japan Forum. 19 (2): 239–256. doi:10.1080/09555800701422852.
  15. 1 2 Alter, Charlotte. "Here’s What Happens When You Get a Rape Kit Exam". TIME.com. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  16. 1 2 Baker, Thomas E.; Roberts, James C. (March 2015). Rape (forensics). Salem Press Encyclopedia.
  17. 1 2 3 Campbell, Rebecca; Feeney, Hannah; Fehler-Cabral, Giannina; Shaw, Jessica; Horsford, Sheena (December 23, 2015). "The National Problem of Untested Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs): Scope, Causes, and Future Directions for Research, Policy, and Practice". Trauma, Violence, & Abuse: 1–14. doi:10.1177/1524838015622436.
  18. 1 2 Parnis, Deborah; Janice, Du Mont (December 2002). "EXAMINING THE STANDARDIZED APPLICATION OF RAPE KITS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF POST-SEXUAL ASSAULT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES". Health Care for Women International. 23 (8): 846–853. PMID 12487699. doi:10.1080/07399330290112362.
  19. ↑ Ledray, L. (1999). "Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Development and Operation Guide". Washington DC: Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
  20. ↑ Hess, Amanda. "What's In A Rape Kit?". Washington City Paper. April 7, 2010
  21. ↑ "Sexual Assault Kit Testing: What Victims Need to Know" (PDF). VictimsOfCrime.org. The National Center for Victims of Crim.
  22. 1 2 3 Lenz, Erin J.; Foran, David R. (January 2015). Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Ferreira, Samuel T.G.; Paula, Karla A.; Maia, Flávia A.; Svidizinski, Arthur E.; Amaral, Marinã R.; Diniz, Silmara A.; Siqueira, Maria E.; Moraes, Adriana V. (2015). "The use of DNA database of biological evidence from sexual assaults in criminal investigations: A successful experience in Brasília, Brazil". Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series. Elsevier Ireland Ltd.: 595–597.
  24. ↑ "Forensics for Survivors: Healing. Justice.—Answers to FAQ". surviverape.org. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Campbell, R.; Feeney, H.; Pierce, S. J.; Sharma, D. B.; Fehler-Cabral, G. (March 27, 2016). "Tested at Last: How DNA Evidence in Untested Rape Kits Can Identify Offenders and Serial Sexual Assaults.". Journal Of Interpersonal Violence. ISSN 1552-6518.
  26. 1 2 3 Sommers, Ira; Baskin, Deborah (2011). "The Influence of Forensic Evidence on the Case Outcomes of Rape Incidents". The Justice System Journal. 32 (3): 328. JSTOR 23268706.
  27. 1 2 Badejoko, Olusegun; Anyabolu, Henry; Badejoko, Bolaji; Ijarotimi, Adebimpe; Kuti, Oluwafemi; Adejuyigbe, Ebunoluwa (2014). "Sexual assault in Ile-Ife, Nigeria". Nigerian Medical Journal. 55 (3): 254–259. doi:10.4103/0300-1652.132065.
  28. ↑ Sommers, Ira; Baskin, Deborah (2011). "The Influence of Forensic Evidence on the Case Outcomes of Rape Incidents". The Justice System Journal. 32 (3): 330. JSTOR 23268706. The present study also confirms prior research that shows a greater likelihood of filing a charge and reaching a conviction when injuries suffered by the victim are serious (Frazier and Haney, 1996; Spohn, Beichner, and Davis-Frenzel, 2001; Spohn and Holleran, 2001; McGregor et al., 2002; Ingemann-Hansen et al., 2008).
  29. ↑ de Heer, Brooke (February 2016). "A Snapshot of Serial Rape An Investigation of Criminal Sophistication and Use of Force on Victim Injury and Severity of the Assault". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 31 (4): 598–619. doi:10.1177/0886260514556110.
  30. ↑ "Addressing the Rape Kit Backlog". Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. RAINN. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  31. ↑ Campbell, Rebecca (March 27, 2016). "Tested at Last How DNA Evidence in Untested Rape Kits Can Identify Offenders and Serial Sexual Assaults". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260516639585. Large numbers of untested SAKs have been found in cities throughout the United States, including New York City (~16,000), Los Angeles (~13,000), Memphis (~12,000), Detroit (~11,000), Houston (~6,000), Dallas (~4,000), and Cleveland (~4,000; see Campbell, Feeney, et al., 2015).
  32. 1 2 3 Kingkade, Tyler (February 24, 2016). "Some States Throw Untested Rape Kits In The Trash. These Survivors Want To Change That.". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  33. ↑ Smith, Jordan Michael; AJ, Vicens (November 24, 2014). "Map: How Long Does Your State Give Rape Survivors to Pursue Justice?". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  34. ↑ Swan, Sarah (2013). "Triangulating Rape". NYU Review of Law & Social Change. 37: 403–455.
  35. 1 2 Kane, Laura (October 12, 2015). "Rape kit inaccessibility a hurdle to justice for victims in Canada, say advocates". The Canadian Press. CTV News. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  36. 1 2 Paquette, Danielle (April 19, 2016). "You have to drive an hour for a rape kit in rural America". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  37. ↑ United States Government Accountability Office, GAO-16-334 (March 2016). "SEXUAL ASSAULT: Information on Training, Funding, and the Availability of Forensic Examiners" (Report to Congressional Requesters). GAO.gov. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  38. 1 2 Jina,, Ruxana; Jewkes, Rachel; Christofides, Nicola; Smith, Joe H. (2011). "Recovering of DNA evidence after rape". The South African Medical Journal. 101 (10): 758–759.
  39. ↑ Caplan-Bricker, Nora (December 22, 2015). "Rape Victims Are Still Being Charged for Rape Kits". Slate.com. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  40. ↑ Mclean, Iain; L'Heureux, Stephan (2007). "Sexual assault aftercare services in Japan and the UK". Japan Forum. 19 (2): 239–256. doi:10.1080/09555800701422852.
  41. ↑ Corrigan, Rose (2013). "The New Trial by Ordeal: Rape Kits, Police Practices, and the Unintended Effects of Policy Innovation". Law & Social Inquiry. 38 (3): 937.
  42. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About STOP Formula Grants" (PDF). Justice.gov. Office on Violence Against Women. February 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  43. 1 2 Carmon, Irin. "The Shocking Numbers on Untested Rape Kits"; Jezebel. August 12, 2010, August 12
  44. ↑ "Hargitay's Joyful Heart". TV Guide. October 18, 2010. Page 4
  45. 1 2 "Testing Justice". Human Rights Watch. May 31, 2009
  46. ↑ Wyatt, Kristen (2008-05-13). "Anonymous Rape Tests Are Going Nationwide". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  47. ↑ "The Road Ahead: Unanalyzed Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases". Journalist's Resource.org.
  48. ↑ Chicago Police Department. Crime Summary: Chicago January-August 2010 Accessed October 13, 2010
  49. ↑ Illinois Municipal League. SB 3269 - Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act 2010
  50. ↑ Ruben, Susan. "Rape Kit Backlog Hits Primetime SVU", Ms. Magazine Blog; October 6, 2010
  51. ↑ Sexual Assault in Chicago. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan Keeping Communities Safe Webpage; 2010
  52. ↑ NYS Sexual Offense And Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits/Training Video New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services; Accessed October 13, 2010
  53. ↑ "DISTRICT ATTORNEY VANCE AWARDS $38 MILLION IN GRANTS TO HELP 32 JURISDICTIONS IN 20 STATES TEST BACKLOGGED RAPE KITS | The New York County District Attorney's Office". manhattanda.org. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  54. ↑ Texas Attorney General exual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program: Frequently Asked Questions Texas Attorney General; May 26, 2010
  55. ↑ "Tested At Last, Rape Kits Give Evidence To Victims' Stories". 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  56. ↑ Hargitay, Mariska. "Message from Mariska Hargitay: The Shame of Rape-Kit Backlogs" Good Housekeeping; October 13, 2010
  57. ↑ Stinchfield, Grant. "'SVU' Star Calls for Dallas to Clear Rape Kit Backlog" NBC; September 22, 2010
  58. ↑ "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, "Behave" Viewing Events". Joyful Heart Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
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