[Trigger warning: rape, sexual harassment, abuse, sexual assault. This article also includes a video of a simulated rape kit examination]





The #MeToo movement is ongoing, highlighting injustices faced by individuals everywhere. But there’s one group that deserves attention: rape survivors whose rape kits sit untested in storerooms of police departments across the United States.

While survivors of sexual assault are often criticized by society for failing to report the crime or have a rape kit performed, the truth is that having a rape kit done doesn’t guarantee it will even be tested. As evidenced by the backlog of rape kits in major cities across the country, processing rape kits to compare against DNA in the national criminal database simply isn’t a priority. Why, you might ask? Because it’s often seen as solely as a women’s issue — and women are seen as second-class citizens in this country.

The Statistics

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), nine out of 10 victims of sexual assault are women, but the likelihood that you’ll experience sexual assault increases if you are marginalized in other ways.

An estimated 44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual women. Additionally, one study indicated that 47 percent of trans people are victims of sexual assault in their lifetime.

Rates of sexual assault also vary by race. Black women (22 percent) and White (18.8 percent) non-Hispanic women, and 1 in 7 Hispanic women (14.6 percent) in the United States will experience sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Furthermore, studies consistently demonstrate that people with intellectual disabilities are sexually victimized more often than individuals who do not have a disability. One study reported that 25 percent of girls and women with intellectual disabilities who were referred for birth control had a history of exposure to sexual violence. Other studies suggest that 49 percent of people with intellectual disabilities will experience 10 or more sexually abusive incidents at some point in their lifetime.

Now, survivors who have been “failed” by our system have begun to take a stand. Across the country, and around the world, survivors are working to fix the problems in the criminal justice system and beyond so future victims won’t be afraid to come forward and get the justice they deserve. Women like Tracy Rios from Tempe, Arizona, who was sexually assaulted by a friend in 2002, are finally seeing justice. Well over a decade after her assault, her rape kit was tested and her attacker is now serving time in prison for the crime. “It was amazing to know I was going to get justice,” Rios recently stated.

Thanks to the attention now being brought to this backlog issue, more women like Tracy can get the justice they deserve.

The Rape Kit Problem

How prevalent is the problem with rape kits going untested? It’s a big problem on multiple levels. First, on a social level where women’s experiences simply aren’t valued or taken seriously and second, on a legal and policing level where crimes sexual assault are not prioritized.

According to an inventory performed by USA Today of 1,000 police agencies, 70,000 rape kits are sitting in storage without being tested. That only represents a fraction of untested rape kits too, since there are over 18,000 police departments across the country.

In Detroit alone, over 11,000 untested rape kits were discovered in 2009. Now, 10 years later, they are just finishing up the testing for the backlog. That’s right, it took 10 years — a decade of heartbreak and pain for the 11,000 people those rape kits represent. All this paints a bleak picture for rape survivors that justice, even when a rape kit is performed in the aftermath of an assault, is elusive and rare.

The Backlog

What does it mean for there to be a rape kit backlog? Rape kits include evidence taken from a forensic exam of a sexual assault victim after the crime. They hold the DNA evidence that can link the perpetrator with the crime, and it is a vital factor in achieving justice for survivors of sexual violence.

The backlog is a multi-faceted problem, but it is caused in two main ways:

Evidence never gets to the crime lab: Over the past 10 years, states and cities (like Detroit) have uncovered DNA evidence from thousands of rape kits that were simply never sent for analysis to a crime lab. The kits aren’t tracked appropriately once in police custody to advance them to the lab. Evidence at the crime lab is never tested: Sometimes, the sheer volume of DNA evidence that has gone untested surpasses the resources of the city, county, or state to test, process, and profile evidence. This leads to the storage of evidence in crime labs that goes untested for a long period of time. Luckily, with the support of the federal government, this is a problem being addressed through properly funded crime labs.

The Impact on Survivors

When a rape kit goes untested, it sends a message to survivors of sexual assault that their experience simply doesn’t matter. It also sends the message to perpetrators that they won’t be held accountable for crimes, because even if there is DNA evidence that links them to an assault, no action will ever be taken.

For survivors like Helena, who was raped at knifepoint by a stranger at 17, the process of having a rape kit done feels like another violation, but victims go through the process in the hopes they’ll find justice. On an emotional level, the rape kit becomes an extension of their own body as well as an extension of their hopes to heal, so when it sits untested for years, it can feel like a violation all over again, dehumanizing the survivor further.

Untested rape kits also impact the community. Since rape kit testing can identify assailants previously unknown, link crimes, and identify potential serial rapists, it makes a community less safe when they are never addressed. Untested rape kits mean serial offenders can keep on offending — and that’s a problem for everyone, not just survivors.

Problems Getting Rape Kits After An Assault

More than the backlog of rape kits themselves, there’s a shortage of resources and staff to gather evidence in the first place. A rape kit cannot be gathered without specially trained forensic nurses to perform them — and only about 17-20 percent of hospitals across the country have a forensic nurse examiner on staff.

Because of this, it’s very likely that a sexual assault survivor could go to the hospital in the wake of an assault only to be told there’s no one there that can successfully perform an exam. This roadblock can cause it to take longer to collect the evidence, on top of opening the survivor up to questions about why they waited to have a rape kit done after an assault.

The Health Impact

The stigma surrounding rape doesn’t help survivors have the confidence to come forward for important medical care, either. If a woman doesn’t have an exam in the wake of an assault, then she can’t receive drugs such as Truvada that can help to reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 75 percent. According to DoSomething.org, rape victims have a 40 percent chance of developing a sexually transmitted disease as the result of the assault.

Without medical intervention, survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment can experience long-term effects on their physical health too, resulting in:

Increased symptoms of depression

Anxiety

Poor sleep quality

Increased risk of high blood pressure

Increased risk of high triglycerides in the blood

These long-term health effects can only be treated if survivors feel comfortable enough to come forward.

What Can Be Done

The rape kit backlog is a failure of the criminal justice system and other institutions, such as universities, to take sexual assault seriously, protect survivors, hold offenders accountable for their crimes, and prioritize testing.

While you may not be able to stop people from committing rape, you can help to end the backlog. To help, you can:

Take action : Advocate for federal funding to help programs in your city and state test DNA evidence. Tweet or write your representative at the federal level and use your social network to bring awareness to the cause.

Donate: If you can, donate funds to help the public policy efforts of groups such as RAINN and EndTheBacklog.org to facilitate justice for sexual violence survivors.

Get involved: You can learn more about your state’s response to the backlog and get involved through the Accountability Project.

Someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the United States. While the #MeToo movement has been healing and empowering for many people, there is still work to be done. The rape kit backlog must be addressed so survivors feel safe, heard, and to help prevent more people from experiencing assault. In the meantime, take care of yourself and those around you.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, there are resources available to help.

National Sexual Assault Hotline

National Sexual Violence Resource Center

National Organization for Victim Assistance

National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women

The National Center for Victims of Crime

National Street Harassment Lifeline

National Child Abuse Hotline

Darkness to Light

Stop It Now

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Love is Respect

Deaf Abused Women’s Network

Cavanet

National Disability Rights Network

Not Alone

1 in 6

GLBTQ Domestic Violence Project

The Network La Red

The Trevor Project

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner

Sidran Traumatic Stress Foundation

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