*Update 5/19/09: Apparently this story was a big fat misunderstanding on the part of the rape victims and local law enforcement, and the people who originally reported on this in Texas didn't do their research first. The Crime Victim's Compensation Fund has been reimbursing local law enforcement for the cost of rape kits and victims can request to have additional medical costs resulting from alleged rapes to be cover by the Fund. Charging victims for kits is still a problem in other states and obviously not everyone was on the ball here in Texas if a victim thought they were forced to pay the bill.*
CNN recently reported that the state of Texas is charging rape victims for the cost of their rape kits. The woman shown in the video was sent hospital bills for $1,800 to cover the costs of her evidence collection. Typically the bills are in the $1,000 + range. The state of Texas has a fund specifically for victim compensation (Crime Victims Compensation Fund) that has millions of dollars in surplus a year, but the State Attorney General says the legislature has rules limiting what the fund can be used for, and it doesn't include rape kits.
Embedded video from CNN Video
For no other crime (that I know of ) are victims charged for evidence collection used to investigate or prosecute a perpetrator. Families aren't charged for autopsies in murders, banks or homeowners who have been robbed aren't charged for fingerprinting. You have to wonder why this is happening with a crime where the victims are almost always women. I chalk it up to the rape culture that permeates our nation's attitudes, religions, and criminal justice system. Sarah Palin's town, Wasilla, AK, also charged women for rape kits, and there are rumors that this happens in other states and towns across our country. It violates the stipulations of the Violence Against Women ACT (VAWA) for which states receive federal funding, so states that do this are breaking federal law.
(I'm adding this stuff below that I just found regarding this story)
I found a page here from the Texas Attorney General's website that gives a little more info on the evidence collection process. The section on payment is a little ambiguous, but to my understanding, a victim only gets a rape kit done with the okay from the local police department (that's what happens in CA) and that the department is then responsible for the fees that go with evidence collection. It also says any other services such as treatments for injuries, STI testing, etc are charged to the patient, but the patient can request coverage from the state's Crime Victim's Compensation Fund, which is mentioned in the video.
The whole controversy of this story is that it seems that women are being charged for all the costs, their injuries and STI testing and evidence collection.
Watch the video and discuss.
is that with budget issues in California, rape kits in Los Angeles county have been backlogged for so long that many of them are tied to cases that have past the statute of limitations for prosecution. Scary, huh? this makes the idea of charging women for the kits laughable, at best. Unless the charge ensures that it will be processed. That might actually be a good thing, and make the charge worth it.
http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2009/RapeBacklog.asp
Currently there are about 400,000 untested rape kits nationally, and 17,000 are from the county of Los Angeles, CA.
Someone decided to start a little organization to help with the problem, http://www.rapekitfoundation.org/. It looks like it could use some help.
If you like this post, please tip me. All tips will be forwarded to ProgressiveU.org. Keep the site alive!
I agree that backlogged rape kits are their own important issue, but I would never call charging women for their rape kits laughable. Charging victims for their own evidence collection, results in another violation by punishing them monetarily for being victims. If the women are able to pay maybe they feel better knowing they helped (hopefully) get the perpetrator brought to justice. But $1000 +! And what if the women can't afford the cost. Their credit gets wrecked and collection agents come a knockin. And it deters women from even going in to get a rape kit done, if they already know they can't afford it.'
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
however, my comment was in response to the idea that a person could be charged for a rape kit only to have it shelved indefinitely and never actually be tested.
If the fee guarantees that it will be tested in a timely manner, I think it might be worth it. Perhaps that is a way to deal with the problem. Obviously lack of funding is the reason for the backlog. Such tests do have a cost.
I think that the fee would be reasonable if the rape kit was performed regardless of ability to pay, but that the fee would expedite processing of the results. Otherwise, a person could still have a rape kit performed, and without paying, it would sit on the shelves with all the others. The specimens might be processed if they become relevant in a "hot" case where investigators have other supportive evidence.
If you like this post, please tip me. All tips will be forwarded to ProgressiveU.org. Keep the site alive!
I think you're missing the point here. We all pay tax dollars to support our justice system. Victims of crime shouldn't be penalized with fees in order to receive justice, in fact its another violation. Its worse for rape victims because they already blame themselves for what happened, and these fees just reinforce that.
These women are being charged by hospitals for the process of evidence collection, which includes use of hospital facilities, the staff who specialize in the process, and supplies. None of this money is going to processing the evidence by forensics, so playing the "what if" game seems counter-productive.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
Texas Charging Women For Rape Kits
My Other Blog Posts
If you mean your point, and the only you want to be recognized and acknowledged, then yes, I am missing the point.
However, I am making my own point, which I am free to do, both as an American citizen and as a blogger on this site.
I get your point, receiving a bill for a rape kit is unfair, and hurts the person receiving it. No contest there.
My point is that most rape kits result in specimens that never get processed.
My thought is that a program like the one in Texas which charges clients for rape kits in exchange for immediate and expedient processing of the results would be a wonderful one.
The women should all be informed of what they are consenting to, on every level, including future receipt of a bill (the video in the original blog did not cover this point).
Anyone being charged a fee for anything should have a receipt which discloses the products or services received for payment. Without that, a person has a reason to pursue a lawsuit.
Ultimately your argument begs some questions.
1. What does the $1800 fee cover?
2. Is a person provided with written disclosure about what their rights are regarding pursuing a rape investigation, including the process of laboratory testing?
3. Is this a direct response to the backlog of rape kit specimens in Texas?
4. Is the person being informed of the fee before pursuing testing?
5. Does payment of the fee guarantee expedient processing of the specimens?
However, the little bit in the video about how the justice system is responsible for rape kits has piqued my interest. If it is their responsibility, then something needs to be done legislatively to fix this problem before it is brought directly to the consumer, in this case, a rape victim.
If you like this post, please tip me. All tips will be forwarded to ProgressiveU.org. Keep the site alive!
My thought is that a program like the one in Texas which charges clients for rape kits in exchange for immediate and expedient processing of the results would be a wonderful one.
No such program exists, which is why I don't understand what you keep talking about. Nowhere that I know of is there a program where rape victims pay a fee in order to guarantee that their rape kits get through forensics quickly. But even in your "wonderful" scenario, victims are still being financially penalized in order to receive justice. This means women who are unable to pay are left in the dust.
Anyone being charged a fee for anything should have a receipt which discloses the products or services received for payment. Without that, a person has a reason to pursue a lawsuit.
If you had watched the video (which you said you did), you would see that these women are being sent hospital bills in the mail after the fact.
1. What does the $1800 fee cover?
I explained this in my last comment. The $1,800 hospital bill the woman in the video received was for use of hospital facilities, for a trained nurse to collect evidence from the woman's body and clothing, and for the supplies needed to do so. That's it. And these rape victims assumed that the state of Texas would cover the cost this evidence collection, but if their local police department refused or their own personal health insurance (if they had insurance) refused, then they received a hospital bill asking them to pay out of pocket.
2. Is a person provided with written disclosure about what their rights are regarding pursuing a rape investigation, including the process of laboratory testing?
I don't know the answer to that. I figure if they do, this "written disclosure" (piece of paper?) would come from a victim's advocacy group and not the police department.
I found a site here from the Texas Attorney General's website that gives a little more info on the evidence collection process. The section on payment is a little ambiguous, but to my understanding, a victim only gets a rape kit done with the okay from the local police department (that's what happens in CA) and that the department is then responsible for the fees that go with evidence collection. It also says any other services such as treatments for injuries, STI testing, etc are charged to the patient, but the patient can request coverage from the state's Crime Victim's Compensation Fund, which is mentioned in the video. I'm going to update my post and add this in for clarification.
The whole controversy of this story is that it seems that women are being charged for all the costs, their injuries and STI testing and evidence collection.
3. Is this a direct response to the backlog of rape kit specimens in Texas?
5. Does payment of the fee guarantee expedient processing of the specimens?
None of this has to do with backlogged rape kits. And no, these costs are just for the evidence collection process taking place in the hospital, hence the hospital bills.
4. Is the person being informed of the fee before pursuing testing?
I doubt it, because according to the website I linked to, the police department is supposed to cover the costs.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
Texas Charging Women For Rape Kits
My Other Blog Posts
It is helpful. Forgive me if the answers to the questions I asked are not promising, or even addressed by actual legislation. Nonetheless, they were important questions for me, and the answers provided me with adequate information to make an informed decision regarding the appropriateness of charging victims fees for conducting a rape kit.
My personal train of thought when I read this post initially went something like this;
"Charging victims for their rape kits is completely and totally frivolous (and laughable) when we know for a fact that most rape kits are not actually completed. Specimens are collected, but are often never actually tested in order to identify the attacker. This seems totally backwards. Anyone who chose to implement or support such fees must have had a good reason for doing so. The only possible good reason I can see is that by charging a fee the state could ensure that the specimens would see their way through to the end of process, which entails isolation of the DNA of the attacker."
I am wrong. That is not "laughable" or good. Nor is it "beside the point," or "off point."
Your point was primarily, if I am not mistaken, that "I chalk it up to the rape culture that permeates our nation's attitudes, religions, and criminal justice system." I am sad to say that upon further investigation, I have to agree with you.
I did a little digging myself to see if I could find out more. Indeed the situation is very grave, and one I cannot believe is in the state that it is.
I was at first willing to accept the fee as reasonable *if* it would guarantee that the specimens would actually be tested. While not ideal, at least this would give the victim the option to more aggressively pursue bringing his/her attacker to justice.
However, it does seem that the fee is for practically nothing, aside from the privilege of enduring 4 hours of what must be terribly grueling examination of every single square millimeter of his/ her body, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_kit
*Warning,* the following link is very graphic and not recommended for the squeamish. It shows and describes the process of a rape kit in great and graphic detail:
http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Textbook/Assault/A...
Obviously this is not something that is "pleasant" for a rape victim to endure, let alone the average person. It is sick that people are coerced to endure this further torture at the insistence of law enforcement, who invariably cite the duty to protect future victims as the primary reason for enduring such testing.
What good is it to collect a rape kit and never test it? None. To charge the victim for the process on top of that is criminal.
In fact, local law enforcement has no right or reason that adequately explains the backlog of rape kits. The old "We don't have enough money" excuse is invalidated by the fact that the federal government has set aside billions of dollars for the process, which local governments are not accepting.
"A local Houston news source featured the story, in which a number of survivors confirm that despite police authorities assuring them they wouldn't pay a penny for medical evidence gathered after an assault, they end up getting letters of delinquency and denial letters for funding from the state's Crime Victims Compensation Fund.
These denial letters are generally sent due to strict guidelines imposed by the legislature as to how the bills are paid. (The survivors must exhaust any other potential funding sources like the local police department or their insurance company.) The (not-so-)funny thing about this is that this fund exists to assist survivors financially yet has millions laying around, unspent every year:
Texas State Comptroller's office figures show the fund has tens of millions of dollars left over at the end of each year.
In September 2006, the balance was $67,058,646 and one year later, the balance was $57,669,432.
In 2008, that figure was up again to $66,572,261 that was left unspent in the fund."
http://www.feministing.com/archives/015357.html
So, it is not a matter of enough money, just a matter of not enough care, consideration, and perhaps employees to see rape kits being processed through to the point of collecting DNA evidence. Even in this case, it seems clear to me that the simplest of solutions would be to use some of those funds to hire qualified laboratory technicians to handle such processing. If they can't even do that, then perhaps the job should be given to another agency or branch of public service. Perhaps a non-profit organization like http://www.rapekitfoundation.org/ could focus on recruiting the necessary human power, rather than raising unnecessary funds, since the funds are already there.
A really dark part of me wants to blame Right Winged Conservatives (a la Sarah Palin) for glorifying the false martyrs of local governments that turn their noses up at federal funds. That is all well and good, provided the state or local government is living up to its obligations to its citizens.
If you like this post, please tip me. All tips will be forwarded to ProgressiveU.org. Keep the site alive!