Rape and Rape Kits

Consent is the issue and that is why most delayed claims of rape are phoney.

This page was last updated on Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A rape kit is a set of items used by trained persons and medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical and other evidence. In turn, this collection of evidence can be used in the investigation an allegation of attempted or actual sexual assault or battery.  However, the rape kit has uses other than collecting the genetic material of the offender(s).

Each kit contains number of items including testing for HIV, checking for pregnancy, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and preventing pregnancy. This short list is not complete and this is why I urge each victim to consent to further testing. For an example, a pelvic examination can reveal other injuries or medical problems that are or could be a result of the offence. The most important detail to remember is time because the evidence begins to dilute and disappear as time progresses.

So the first thing to do is to get to a rape processing center or an emergency room and avoid trying to clean yourself because you would be diluting and removing important evidence. Some victims will feel violated and psychologically shocked and others will not, at least for some time. After the initial episode of mental awareness, the victim may feel a sense of being that alternates between depression, anger, and elation. Then hard part comes, it starts with self-pity, then denial, followed by self-blame. This is called the yo-yo effect because it seems to recur without end but it will pass.  This is called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD).

In most states, a victim must not wait more than 72 hours to report a sexual offence. The 72-hour ‘envelope’ only refers to the time that the DNA evidence is most likely to be gathered in sufficient quantity to be tested. The least time between the offence and treatment provides the best opportunity to gather that evidence.  Although the assailant may have used a condom or other means, DNA is exchanged between the assailant and the victim. That is why is so important to not delay in getting help. So if you are a victim of abuse or rape, then seek immediate help before the evidence disappears.

Rape victims who are too afraid or too ashamed to go to police, can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges. The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples. "Sometimes the issue of actually having to make a report to police can be a barrier to victims, and this will allow that barrier to cease, to allow the victim to think about it before deciding whether to talk to police," according to Carey Goryl, executive director of the International Association of Forensic Nurses.

The practice is already followed at some health clinics, colleges and hospitals around the country and by the state of Massachusetts. But many other jurisdictions refuse to cover the estimated $800 cost of a forensic rape exam unless the victim files a police report.  Beginning in 2009, states will have to pay for Jane Doe rape kits to continue receiving funding under the federal Violence Against Women Act, which provides tax dollars for women's shelters and law enforcement training. States will decide how many locations will offer anonymous rape exams and how long the evidence should be kept.

Emergency rooms typically use a "rape kit" to collect evidence for use by police and prosecutors. It consists of microscope slides, boxes and plastic bags for storing skin, hair, blood, saliva or semen gathered by a specially trained nurse. A technician also photographs the victim’s injuries. What makes a Jane Doe rape kit different is that it only has a number on the envelope to identify the victim. Police do not open the envelope unless the victim decides to press charges. The FBI has recommended such an option since at least 1999.

"The idea is to collect the evidence now, while it is still there," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the national Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. So this new requirement applies only to adult victims. Hospitals and doctors must still report incest or abuse involving children to the police. In Cecil County, local authorities started offering Jane Doe kits four years ago, after a rape victim had recanted. The U.S. Department of Justice reported 272,350 sexual assaults in 2006. However, the same survey estimated that women only 41 percent of rapes and sexual assaults to the police. However this figure is doubtful because no data supports it.

A woman woke up dazed and physically bruised the morning after her birthday party and reality began to sink in. Someone had drugged her with gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and then raped her. So she went to a local hospital to undergo the rape kit protocol. The problem was that her rape kit was never processed and the police used the money (to process her rape kit) for their own benefit. Worse yet, was that the prosecutors told her they did not have the funds or enough of a legal case to justify having her rape kit tested. So, as a result, they allowed the rapist to go free. This is a classic case of betrayal.

In 1994, Congress passed a law that would ensure that every victim of rape or other sexual crime would never see a bill. That did not happen, sometimes, because the states allowed the hospitals to bill the victim’s insurance company who, in turn, refused to pay the bill because the victim did not pay the deductible costs. The problem is that the deductible costs could easily exceed several thousand dollars and most victims do not have it. That is why they bought medical insurance. Some people are more eloquent. They call it the ‘run-around’.

However, some states and communities got smart. So instead of paying the victim, they payed the victim’s deductible insurance costs and the remaining bill. This way, the money did not appear as income to State and Federal tax authorities. The whole point of paying the victim's bill is that victims should not have had to pay anything for the attack. This also includes unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmittable diseases and that is why these attacks have to be reported without delay.

However, some states and communities got smart. So instead of paying the victim, they payed the victim’s deductible insurance costs and the remaining bill. This way, the money did not appear as income to State and Federal tax authorities. The whole point of paying the victim's bill is that victims should not have had to pay anything for the attack, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmittable diseases, that why these attacks have to be reported without delay.

Rape is non-consensual sexual conduct and the lack of legal consent is the primary issue. Some people cannot legally consent because they do not have either the capacity or the right. These factors include mental capacity, age, difference in ages, and freedom to make choices. So those, who cannot legally consent, remain protected by the law. The law must require witnesses and evidence and without these elements, the law cannot prove that rape had occurred because claiming rape does not prove that it occurred. This definition should reduce the number of false claims of rape especially in those jurisdictions that presume that unsworn claims, without evidence are true. Such claims would be considered sworn upon making the claim and the accuser would be subject to perjury if the claim were false.

Gender Immunity - When the results do not fit, redefine the crime

Attempted or threatened violence is the unsuccessful attempt of rape, sexual assault, personal robbery or assault. This includes attempted attacks or sexual assaults by means of verbal threats. See individual crime types for definition of attempted crimes. Completed violence is the sum of all completed rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, and assaults. Sexual assault includes a wide range of victimizations that are separate from rape or attempted rape. These crimes include attacks or attempted attacks generally involving unwanted sexual contact between the victim and the supposed offender. Sexual assaults may or may not involve force and include such things as grabbing or fondling. Sexual assault also includes verbal threats.

Unfounded cases are those that a lack sound basis (groundless or unwarranted). The FBI’s 1996 Uniform Crime Report states that 8 percent of reports of forcible rape were later determined to be unfounded upon investigation. That percentage does not include instances where the accuser has failed or refuses to cooperate, or drops the charges. Some jurisdictions will continue to prosecute because they have adopted a ‘no drop’ policy for certain crimes. Those crimes may include rape, domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, and other unspecified crimes determined by law or by the local prosecutor. Rape is now any non-consensual penetration of any person (2012). The problem is that rape does not require penetration to complete the act. Rape always occurs without consent because the lack of consent is its defining factor.

The U.S. Department of Justice has documented many cases where DNA testing had exonerated wrongfully convicted individuals. By the time of their release, each had served an average of seven years in prison. They stated that every year since 1989, in about 25 percent of the sexual assault cases referred to the FBI where they could obtain results, forensic DNA testing has excluded the primary suspect. FBI officials report that out of roughly 10,000 sexual assault cases since 1989, about two thousand were inconclusive, another two thousand excluded the primary suspect, and 6,000 were matches.

So the two thousand exclusions (25%) are very similar to the 27.9% false paternity claims and so a person might find that additional research could relate them. The National Institute of Justice's informal survey of private laboratories reveals a strikingly similar 26 percent exclusion rate. However, these tests do not distinguish between those accusers who lie and those they honestly mistake. Nor does it show that a rape did not occur, it merely proves innocense. The point is that false accusations against males are not rare. They are very common. Nevertheless, a woman who deliberately becomes pregnant by an underage boy may be immune from prosecution.

Prosecutors rarely prosecute women who lie about sexual battery or assault and that is why some women politicize it as male problem. However, the general agreement is that most those who lie about rape are females. This comes from their claim that only women have the final word of what is and what is not rape. This means that a woman who used a ‘Jane Doe Rape Kit’ years ago can claim rape later. However, claiming rape is much different from proving it and so consent is the deciding factor. So if the complainant waited until the evidence had, or would have, dissipated, then that was their consent or they had lied. It does not take more than a moment for any person to realize that someone has raped them, unless they were drugged.  But when women claim that they should have the option of keeping the police away until they are ready to accuse, that option would violate a potential victim’s Constitutional right to a speedy trial. It also proves premeditation.

Edward Steven Nunes

References

Laboratory Testing

DNA Testing, The Technology of Detecting the Truth  (External references included)

Sexual Assault and Sexual Battery

MedlinePlus (Reference 001955)

National Institutes of Health  Rape prevention - National Library of Medicine

Sexual Assault: MedlinePlus - National Library of Medicine

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