100 serial rapists identified after Detroit finally processes untested rape kits

[ismnotwasm]

There are an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits in the US. (Photo credit: Lonnie Timmons III, Plain Dealer)
Back in 2009, over 11,000 kits were found abandoned in a Detroit Police storage facility. After processing just 1,600 of them so far, Detroit has identified about 100 serial rapists and ten convicted rapists. Those perpetrators have moved on from Michigan to commit similar crimes in 23 other states.

Of course, Detroit is not alone. Nationwide, there are an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits. One of our favorite actress/activists Law and Order: SVU’s Mariska Hargitay (read her Feministing Five interview here) has been raising awareness about this issue for awhile now. Her organization, The Joyful Heart Foundation, has launched a project called End The Backlog to pressure cities and states to prioritize testing their kits. (She’s also producing a documentary about the problem.) And thankfully, 17 states have proposed new legislation to address their backlogs.

There’s a ton of reasons that the rape kit backlog is national shame. For one thing, as Hargitay notes, “One would assume that if someone endures a four- to six-hour invasive examination, that that evidence would be handled with care.” And while police departments say testing evidence is expensive and they just don’t have the resources, they’re making choices about which cases they believe are worth moving forward. Sarah Tofte, the director of policy and advocacy for Joyful Heart, explained to ThinkProgress, “They’re making subjective judgments about whether they’re likely to get a conviction, what this rape looks like, whether the victim is credible, and what the victim’s worth to society is…Ultimately, it’s about, does this victim deserve justice?”

In other words, if we didn’t live in a rape culture in which all but the most “perfect victims” are doubted, you can bet your ass there wouldn’t be such a backlog. As Hargitay said, “To me, this is the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes.”

Of course, the most urgent and concrete reason we should be testing rape kits is that they can identify rapists. (That’s kinda the point.) And since most rapists are serial rapists, that helps prevent future assaults. The stats from Detroit are similar to those in other cities and states that have tackled their backlogs: Once New York City processed its 17,000-kit backlog in 2001, the arrest rate for rape cases jumped from 40 percent to 70 percent. After working through 2,000 untested kits, Ohio has found nearly 200 matches with DNA in a criminal database.

http://feministing.com/2014/03/17/100-serial-rapists-identified-after-detroit-finally-processes-untested-rape-kits/

Well at least they're moseying along there;

And at least Detroit--a city under siege actually tested some and actually identified the rapists



What rape culture?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. DU Rec

[arcane1]

2. Wow!

This proves that we're not talking about individual, isolated instances, and that timely processing of these kits will actually PREVENT rapes in the future.

[ismnotwasm]

4. Amazing isn't it?

Who ever would have thought....

[cui bono]

3. That is appalling.

[redqueen]

5. Nope there's no rape culture. It's just jocks. And religion.

Nope, no rape culture at all.


Meanwhile the people who fight so hard against those trying to call out rape culture will turn right around and echo some of the most anti-feminist, regressive bullshit.

[ismnotwasm]

16. Law and Order SVU is a horrid show

I stopped watching all the CSI type shows a few years back. One went over the top and I realized what I was watching-- a parade of dead women, often in "provocative" poses or story lines.

It's not that other genders weren't murdered, but the treatment women got was particularly egregious.

[redqueen]

17. Yeah, the 'sexy dead woman' trope was too much for me.

I liked the original Law and Order series but the SVU series, while it could have been interesting to me, just seemed to rely too heavily on that angle. We could do with more social awareness of the brutality that so many women endure, but sexualizing it is messed up.

[Hekate]

6. Rape Culture. Let me KnR before the thread is swarmed by those offended by the term Rape Culture.

[Squinch]

11. Yes, let's shout it: Rape effing culture! This is disgusting that there are still 400,000 out there

I wonder how many rapes going forward that represents.

Goddamn it.

[jtuck004]

7. But, but, we have to spend millions to arrest the doobie smokers...and there's nothing left for you.

It's too bad the federal government doesn't think this is as high a priority. It would be handled already.

I know it is a state crime, but that doesn't stop the fed from funneling part of the billions of dollars we burn up in the war on drugs people.

400,000 untested kits.

[dembotoz]

8. like the x files--the truth was out there

[riqster]

9. K & R

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. selecting which victims they "believe". Unconscionable.

kick. rec. for visibility.

[nomorenomore08]

18. Unconscionable is right. I don't see how some folks can downplay this stuff the way they do

unless they're engaging in magical thinking whereby this could never happen to them/someone they know.

[Squinch]

12. That is good news and absolutely sickening news at the same time.

[ismnotwasm]

13. Yeah

It kind of tears you in half.

[Squinch]

14. Wonder how many rapes going forward will be committed by those whose DNA is included in

the untested 400,000 kits.

[ismnotwasm]

15. Exactly

It's enraging. Yes we know most men aren't rapists. But this is a pass for those that are-- the tendency to be "serial" rapists.

This is really messed up