Illustration via CNN.com
Today, CNN published an expose revealing that police departments across the country have destroyed untested rape kits before the statute of limitations expired and in states where there is no statute of limitation on sex crimes. In some cases, rape kits were destroyed within weeks of the police receiving the evidence.
WLP Executive Director Carol E. Tracy is a national expert on police response to sex crimes and gender bias in policing. Along with Managing Attorney Terry L. Fromson, Tracy developed the Philadelphia Model, an advocate-led review of police sex crime files. Since 2000, Tracy and Fromson have reviewed thousands of sex crime police files.
Tracy worked with CNN reporters for months and reviewed police sex crime files from five agencies to help bring this systemic problem, this widespread failure, to light. Destroying untested rape kits not only blocks justice for victims, but represents a profound betrayal of survivors courageous enough to report the crime and undergo the rape-kit exam, their loved ones, and all citizens police are charged to protect.
In all, CNN discovered that at least 25 agencies in 14 states destroyed kits tied to cases while they could still be prosecuted. Some of those untested rape kits contained evidence collected from the bodies of abused children.
“I am grateful to CNN reporters for pursuing this complicated, heartbreaking investigation,” says Tracy. “Women continue to be profiled as liars by police and in the legal system. What possible public safety benefit comes from destroying evidence, particularly before the statute of limitations has run?”
From the report:
“All the attention toward untested kits isn’t enough if we have agencies destroying kits,” said Wayne County, Michigan, Prosecutor Kym Worthy, whose testing of some 10,000 backlogged rape kits has identified at least 833 suspects linked to more than one sex crime.
“Each one of these kits represents a victim,” said the Detroit-based prosecutor…
No one tells you that the exam may be pointless — that police might treat your kit like trash.
Read “Destroyed” here. The story contains copies of sex crime files alongside commentary and analysis from Tracy and other experts, and a video wherein they discuss individual cases and CNN’s findings.
Read “Five Takeaways from CNN’s Investigation into Rape Kit Destruction” here.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing the rights of women and girls. You can support our work for rape victims by joining us at our annual party November 30 in Philadelphia.
Sign up for WLP’s Action Alerts here. Follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.
We are a non-profit organization. Please consider supporting equal rights for women and girls by making a one-time donation or scheduling a monthly contribution.
