Untested Rape Kits: Real Life on TV

A recent episode of Law & Order: SVU highlighted the problem of untested rape kits in this country. The episode showed how New York detectives spent about a week tracking down a serial rapist from Atlanta to Milwaukee to New York, and at the end Sergeant Benson (played by Mariska Hargitay) was asked, “What could SVU have done differently?”

She started with, “We are reliant on other jurisdictions when their perpetrators cross over into ours.” Shortly after, Chief Dobbs (played by Peter Gallagher) chimed in with, “The problem isn’t communication, but the national rape kit backlog issue that needs to be addressed.”

Benson then went on to say, “The brutal truth is that all assaults could have and should have been prevented. A career rapist moved from state to state year after year. But because many cities have underfunded departments and many cities do not regard crimes against women seriously they never tested thousands of their rape kits. What is the point of having a national DNA database if the rapist’s DNA is never entered into it?”

Thanks to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Illinois was the first state in the U.S. to pass a law requiring all law enforcement agencies to submit all evidence of sexual assault to the crime lab within 10 days of receiving it from a hospital AND provide the Illinois State Police an inventory of all untested kits in their possession to establish a timeline to complete their analyses. Texas and Colorado followed suit, but what about the rest of the country?

We’ve seen some progress over the years, as more states and local jurisdictions are beginning to recognize the value of testing rape kits. For example, in New York City, the backlog of 17,000 untested rape kits discovered in 1999 was eliminated in 2003. And the city built its own $290 million forensic biology lab. Also, in November 2014, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced its commitment of up to $35 million to fund the testing of rape kit backlogs across the country.

In Chicago, Lifeway Foods President/CEO Julie Smolyansky, founded the non-profit Test400k. She named the organization after the number of untested rape kits that, according to a Human Rights Watch Report, are in storage at police departments around the country. A certified rape counselor, Ms. Smolyansky says she’s horrified at the number and hopes her drive to raise awareness and advocate for DNA analysis of all rape kits changes that.

Clearly, as a country, we’re not there yet. Other cities need to have people like Lisa Madigan and Julie Smolyansky fighting for victims’ rights. But, we must also remember there’s another issue aside from the testing. A DNA match is just the first step toward healing for rape survivors. And again, in Chicago, we’re lucky to have an organization like Rape Victim Advocates.

“Rape Victim Advocates began in 1974 with 10 volunteers, no office and serving one hospital,” says Executive Director Sharmili Majmudar. “Today, we have over 150 committed volunteers, 18 dedicated staff members, four offices across the city and we partner with 14 hospitals.”

RVA’s services grew from crisis intervention to a range of services including individual and family counseling, medical and legal advocacy, support groups, prevention education and professional training. “We are part of the necessary local and national conversation about sexual violence,” explains Ms. Majmudar. “In the past 40 years, we have supported thousands of survivors on their journeys of healing; in fact, in just the past 15 years we have served over 17,000 survivors and their loved ones, and over 1,800 of those were served in our last fiscal year alone.”

Cassandra Gaddo, vice president of the RVA Board of Directors says the organization is important because it is the voice of survivors. “In the emergency room, through counseling sessions and during the legal process, RVA helps survivors find their voice, navigate through the system and begin to heal.”

Chicago is incredibly lucky to have so many strong women fighting for the rights of rape victims. My only hope is that the rest of the country catches up…