Thousands of "Rape Kits" Discovered Unprocessed!

A few days ago, while listening to NPR, I was disgusted to learn about the 11,000 "Rape Kits" that were discovered in Detroit unprocessed.  These "Rape Kits" are the DNA evidence used to catch and prosecute the assailant.  According to this NPR story, row upon row of boxes of these "kits" were never utilized in the justice system, in fact it was mentioned that only 2 of these potential cases are set for trial.  Inside the kits is DNA evidence that is collected "from every orifice" of a recently raped person, a process that could take up to three hours.

Furthermore, Detroit is not alone in this gross negligence, this is the case in cities across the county.  Any one who learns of this injustice has to wonder just how little our society values women to turn a blind eye on this huge number of abuses.

Of course women are not the only victims of rape, according to the RAINN website "about 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime."

• In 2003, 1 in every ten rape victims were male.
• 2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.

I found more disturbing statistics - Lifetime rate of rape /attempted rape for women by race:

• All women: 17.6%
• White women: 17.7%
• Black women: 18.8%
• Asian Pacific Islander women: 6.8%
• American Indian/Alaska Native women: 34.1%
• Mixed race women: 24.4%

For a long time in my life I could not even look at statistics like these, rape is such a close subject for me.  Just about every one close to me has horrific stories around this subject as well.  In fact, when I was in high school my younger sister told me of an incident she had been living with for years.  Even though the incident had taken place years earlier, our parents insisted she file a police report.  When the police came to our house to document her story she was unable to talk to them about it directly.  What she was able to do was to whisper the details into my ear and then I spoke them to the police.  Even now, almost 20 years later, I can't remember that time without using extreme restraint to keep from breaking down in a flood of tears.  And yet, the police report did nothing to stop or hinder my sister's attacker. 

Sadly I have far too many stories related to rape and subsequently how these attacks have had the ability to destroy a person's life if we don't find a way to survive the trauma.  So how do we break this appalling cycle of violence and disrespect for our fellow human beings?  I think we must talk about it; we must yell about it;  we must scream for justice in our own homes, in the halls of court, and especially in the streets of the communities we live in.

This NPR story and the writing for this blog has inspired me to do more.  I found this organization here in Fairbanks that I plan to get involved with: Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living.
Facebook name: Iac Fairbanks
http://www.iacnvl.org/outreach-projects-volunteering

other resources for getting involved:
http://www.rainn.org/get-involved

websites with info I used for this blog post:
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/21/151113247/untouched-thousands-of-rape-kits-await-justice
http://www.rainn.org/statistics

Because this post is so grim, I also wanted to just mention this beautiful book that a number of my friends have contributed to - Imagining Ourselves: Global Voices From a New Generation of Women, http://www.herterstudio.com/Imagining%20Ourselves.htm.  This is a wonderful book of women artists and poets and some of their art-form.  It is both empowering and inspiring.