Victims of Sex Crimes (Blog Post #6)

While female sex offenders may be a growing number, females are more likely to be the victims of sex crimes. Women are too common the victims of sex crimes, which are often underreported to authorities. According to Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), one in six women will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. Only about 6% of these offenders will ever spend a day in jail, because so many of these sexual assaults are not reported to police. In fact, 60% of sexual assaults against women are not reported to police. Every two minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. These frightening facts contribute to the huge number of women sex crime victims. Women who have been sexually assaulted are often too scared to report their crime, or feel like reporting to the authorities will not do any good. The growing number of sex crime victims is largely women.

Rape is one of the most underreported sex crimes, but even when it is reported to authorities, it is often not handled properly. The case of Lavinia Masters, who was raped in 1985 when she was only 13, has recently been reopened. She stated that the process of collecting evidence was devastating, but waiting twenty years for her case to come to a conclusion was the worst. He rape kit sat idle until 2005, when the Dallas Police Department re-opened her case as part of an initiative to solve old crimes. DNA testing was not available when Masters was raped, but when her case was re-opened, the police found that the DNA matched a man who was already serving time in prison for unrelated crimes. Even though Masters’ case had finally been solved, she could not prosecute the man because the statute of limitations had run out. The case of Lavinia Masters is an all too common occurrence.

In Los Angeles, for example, there were nearly 7,500 untested rape kits in the system in 2008. These rape kits may contain critical DNA that could either lead to the arrest of offenders, or exonerate those wrongly convicted. The wait for rape victims can be agonizing. One victim said that, “having to wait is like pouring salt on the wound,” and, “to have DNA technology at our disposal is awesome, but we have to take advantage of it.” Today, Masters and other rape victims are pushing to have their cases re-opened, and have new cases tested immediately before they end up in backlog for years.

Problems arise in which rape cases have priority to be tested. Cases involving suspects who are likely to be involved with murder or children usually take top priority. Incidences involving a victim who is attacked by a stranger are usually given the next priority. Rape victims in cases involving acquaintances or spouses sometimes aren’t even tested at all. The problem of solving rape cases is a growing issue, and needs to be addressed. While so many sexual assaults are not reported, it is crucial that all crimes that are reported to authorities take top priority in being investigated.

References:
CNN News, http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/15/rape.kit.backlog/index.html#cnnSTCText October 15, 2009

RAINN: Rape Abuse, and Incest National Network, http://www.rainn.org/statistics Statistics, received October 31, 2009.