DNA Evidence Leads to Sexual Assault Arrest in LA County

The LA Times reports that a Long Beach, CA man, arrested on domestic violence charges, is suspected of sexually assaulting an 83 year-old woman earlier this year. The man underwent a DNA test upon his recent arrest, and his DNA matches that which was collected from the sexual assault case.

Los Angeles County currently has a backlog of untested rape evidence collection kits, which contain DNA samples from sexual assault cases, totaling around 12,000 kits! About half of the cases these kits are tied to have passed the statute of limitations.

By allowing rape kits to go untested, LA County has been depriving sexual assault victims of the justice they deserve, while allowing dangerous criminals to run free. In fact, in Los Angeles County, sexual assault has the lowest arrest rate of any violent crime - only about 25% of cases ever end in arrest.

When New York City began testing their recent backlog of nearly 17,000 rape kits, the arrest rate skyrocketed to 80%, with a very small dismissal and acquittal rate. Through examination of the DNA evidence contained in the kits, the city was able to not only find and convict serial rapists, but serial date rapists, as well.

This is extremely notable because date or acquaintance rape is often considered a less serious crime by authorities, and some recent investigation in Santa Barbara, CA shockingly revealed that SBPD will immediately dismiss acquaintance rape cases that involve alcohol. With a prominent university and community college located in Santa Barbara this unjustice is absolutely inexcusable.

Human Rights Watch has been investigating the LA County rape kit backlog and suspects the backlog is not isolated to Los Angeles, but is most likely a national crisis.

What can you do? Start investigating! Ask your local police department if they have untested rape kits. Find out what their procedure for testing rape kits is. If you find disturbing information, contact your FMF Campus Organizer.

LA County Promises to Eliminate Rape Kit Backlog

Yesterday it was announced by Supervisor Yarovslavksy that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department will commit to fund the testing of every single backlogged rape kit in LA. This will be done within the next two years, with promises to ensure the backlog does not return.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch held a discussion at the FMF West Coast Office. Sarah Tofte spoke about the research HRW has conducted in Los Angeles County, uncovering the 12,000 plus rape kits that just sit untested. More than 450 rape kits have been there so long that the 10 year statue of limitations period to convict has expired.

It begs the question, why doesn't rape matter??

If I was a woman that had just gotten raped, and agreed to undergo a rape kit--an invasive process that can take up to 6 hours--I would want to know that everything was being done to catch the perpetrator . I wouldn't want to wait months, even years, before we knew who the rapist was. I wouldn't want to find out that 3 out of 4 rapists in Los Angeles are never convicted. I wouldn't want to find out that the Sheriff's department may not test my rape kit because they don't believe my boyfriend could have actually raped me.

In acquaintance rape, the police department is sometimes skeptical of the victim's stories. As Sarah Tofte says, "They talk about the [rape] victims’ credibility in a way that they don’t talk about the credibility of victims of other crimes."

It is important to test every rape kit because they not only help identify unknown suspects and confirm known suspects, but also link repeat offenders to different cases as well as exonerate innocent suspects. With one of the worst rape conviction rates in the country, it is incredible news that LA has committed to eliminating their backlog! Onward to the rest of the country!

image courtesy of flickr.com

New Legalized Gender Discrimination in Afghanistan

Yesterday Human Rights Watch learned that the revised Marital Rape law in Afghanistan was passed and published in the official Gazette on July 27. Although the amended legislation promised by the Afghan government no longer includes marital rape, it includes equally oppressive laws against women. Most notable, the law allows Shia men to deny wives of food if they refuse to perform thier husbands' sexual demands. Aditionally, the law states that guardianship of children belongs exclusively to fathers and grandfathers, and allows rapists to avoid prosecution if they pay "blood money" to make up for any injuries caused to thier rape victim.

Not only is does this legislation strip women of some of thier most basic human rights, it is also unconstitutional according to the Article 22 of the Afghan constitution which states that men and women have "equal rights and duties before the law". Additionally, this legislation defies the international convention CEDAW, which Afghanistan has signed to end discrimination against women. Although President Hamid Karzai promised to amend the previous marital rape law, it has been speculated by many feminist groups that the president supported this pathetic alteration in order to garner support from religious conservatives for the upcoming election on August 20.

It is completely unacceptable for women, or for any human being to be so horribly discriminated against under the law. The dignity and quality of life of the women of Afghanistan is being tossed around by male political and religious leaders more interested in power than in equality, safety, and the well being of the Afghan society as a whole. This legislation cannot be ignored by the international community, or by feminists around the world. Let President Obama know that it is important to you that he pressure the next Afghan President to repeal this legislation and guarantee the Afghan women the fundamental rights that they deserve. Call your representative today!

The Feminist Majority Foundation is committed to achieving full political, social and economic freedom and equality for the women and girls of Afghanistan, through the Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls and the Feminist Campus Afghan Women's Health Initiative.