True. Though I’m not sure how good the analogy is given the personal nature of rape vs. home invasion. At least with the home invasion, there’s physical evidence that can’t be dismissed as, “Well, they probably wanted to be robbed.”
I wish law enforcement would take it a lot more seriously, and lots of training all around on how to handle it. That case that was on This American Life should never have happened; it sounded like they were taking it seriously until “family” got involved. I mostly just want to see it treated like a crime intead of being prosecuted in the court of public opinion. Public opinion, blah. On one end of the spectrum, you have, well, he couldn’t be a rapist! He’s such a nice guy! Or, she seems shifty, she’s probably lying! To the other end of the spectrum: someone put out an accusation, we know he’s guilty! On one end, you end up letting a lot of scumbags go; on the other end, through some convoluted logic, you can end up with our own dear Cory Doctorow as a rape apologist (think Max Temkin, the anonymous accusation, and both his and Cory’s ongoing relationship with EFF.) The emotions of the public shouldn’t be part of the investigation imho; keep the accuser and the accused anonymous, get on with treating it like she’s telling the truth unless and until it doesn’t pan out, and still give the accused their due ¨innocent until proven guilty" chance, imho.
Right, you make an excellent point. I can’t think of a single incentive for anyone to want to make it appear they have been robbed. It’s not like there is an obvious plausible financial motive that could be pursued after a robbery.
Whereas there are so many awesome gains to be had by pretending to be raped.
Bending over backward to be fair, but if most cases of rape are claimed to be consensual sex by the accused, than the rape kit actually doesn’t add useful evidence. Of course the existence of rape kit evidence just may be the reason for a consensual sex defense rather than an “I never touched her,” defense.
That is a fair point, though likely to be unpopular. Rape kits don’t actually prove or disprove rape, they only (potentially) identify the alleged perpetrator through forensic and genetic information.
That said, the lab doesn’t know which ones are being tested in cases where the victim doesn’t know his or her attacker, and which ones are being tested in cases of claimed consensual sex. And of course someone who is accused of raping someone might well be the assailant in another case where the identity wasn’t known. And double of course, most rape accusations are not false.
Well he totally asked the dudes, and they all said she was totally into it. And then they high-fived and drove around in a pickup truck with some beers.
Forensic exam findings can corroborate or contradict conflicting factual stories, for example, bruising or tears may support the victim/survivor’s account and contradict the perp. Alcohol or GBH or other compounds in the mix may also be relevant to consent.
The Few Who File False Claims Tend to Have Problems that Need Addressing
In our county we’re able to work with community partners. We use the classification of “inactive” instead of “unfounded” for most rape cases that we can’t move forward with. Over the last two years, I would estimate that we have classified fewer than a half-dozen cases as unfounded. The only time we would use unfounded is when we have an admis-sion from the victim or overwhelming evidence that it’s a false report.We do this for a couple reasons. Primarily, we want to serve as a victim center. Even the few peo-ple who file false claims often have some problems going on in their lives and need some kind of ser-vices. We try not to punish people for coming for-ward with allegations, and we investigate all reports to the extent that we can. . . .
Avoiding reckless use of a term like “unfounded” may also reduce the risk of victims’ investigative files undermining prosecution of a serial perpetrator.
True, I should have been a little more respectful of the evidence that can come from a rape kit, though I would argue that much of it is of limited evidentiary value if the alleged perpetrator is known, and is claiming it was a consensual encounter.
One would hope so. Really, one would hope that what were once exceptions were the new rule and that police engaged in evidence-based policing, but apparently that’s too much to hope for.
That hasn’t been my experience. And remember that serial perpetrators injure multiple victims. Multiple kits may include pattern evidence relevant to the same perpetrator, e.g. dna, fibers, etc.
Here are some bonus likes because I’m out of regular likes.
Yes, yes. Absolutely. And for any rape victim, going through the rape kit process is important, even if they know their attacker. But the primary purpose of the “kit” is to collect evidence to identify an attacker, and it would be a shame to mislead anyone to think that the kit is somehow capable of distinguishing, on its own, between consensual sex and rape.
You may have experience as a prosecutor using rape kit and medical evidence to prove cases of rape even where the attacker is known, and I yield to your superior knowledge in that. But I do have experience from the other side, and I’ve seen rape kit evidence minimized because claims of consensual sex often offer the excuse of “rough sex” as the cause of any injuries that are evident at the victim’s medical exam. Most of the value of the rape kit in cases where the assailant is known, IMO, is from the woman actually going through the process and thereby going “on record” as early as possible as having been raped.
