SAFER Petition

A group on facebook called TeamStrick has sent R.I.S.E. a petition that I feel very strongly towards, and I would like to share it with you today.

KaDee Strickland and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) came together to form TeamStrick, a non-profit organization that dedicated to raising money and awareness for RAINN. It was inspired by the actress and advocate KaDee Strickland.

KaDee’s best known for her film roles in The Grudge and Fever Pitch, along with her minor roles in The Sixith Sense, Anything Else, and Something’s Gotta Give. She’s also been known to be drawn towards strong female roles to avoid sexualizing or sensationalizing her self-presentation as a woman.

The petition TeamStrick is asking people to sign is called the SAFER Act to End Rape Kit Backlog. What does this mean? Well I’d tell you, but the petition pretty much speaks for itself.

“The SAFER Act, H.R. 1523, is a no-cost bill that will lead to the elimination of the DNA backlog of evidence collected in rape cases (commonly known as rape kits). Currently, there is a tremendous backlog of DNA evidence from unsolved rape cases that has never been sent to the lab for analysis. Until we test this evidence and identify the rapists, those criminals remain free to attack more victims.

The SAFER Act will establish better standards for future tracking, storage, and use of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases, and create the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER), which will track the status of DNA evidence collected in rape cases. The registry will allow victims to monitor the progress of forensic evidence in their own case using a non-personally identifying ID number online, anytime.

The SAFER Act will bring transparency to the testing process, help us efficiently target resources to areas that have the biggest backlogs, and empower survivors with up-to-the-minute info about the status of their case. It will also inform law enforcement and the public about the extent of the DNA backlog throughout the country.

The SAFER Act will increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system by more effectively targeting areas with the most significant backlogs, while making the entire process transparent to the public. Processing this evidence from rape cases quickly will help to ensure justice for survivors of this violent crime by taking rapists off the streets, and create safer communities.

The bill has strong bipartisan support, and RAINN is optimistic that it will move quickly through the U.S Congress with your help! Contact your U.S. Representative today to express your support for the SAFER Act, H.R. 1523.”

Our founder, Kylie, found some great information about these rape kits. The following is from our R.I.S.E. facebook discussion page:

"A rape kit consists of small boxes, microscope slides, and plastic bags for collecting and storing evidence such as clothing fibers, hairs, saliva, semen or body fluid, which may help identify a rape survivor's attacker for use in prosecution. The process of collecting the evidence for the kit takes hours.

Although a rape kit's contents may vary by location, it may include:

* Instructions

* Bags and sheets for evidence collection

* Swabs for collecting fluids from the lips, cheeks, thighs, vagina, anus, and buttocks

* Blood collection devices

* Comb used to collect hair and fiber from the victim’s body

* Clear glass slides

* Envelopes for preserving the victim’s clothes, head hair, pubic hair, and blood samples

* Nail pick for scraping debris from beneath the nails

* White sheets to catch physical evidence stripped from the body

* Documentation forms

* Labels

In the United States, rape kit costs, availability, proper implementation of the invasive exam, and backlogs have historically presented problems for survivors of rape seeking justice.

As of May 2009, the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2005 went into effect, requiring state governments who wish to continue receiving federal funding to pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" or, "anonymous rape tests", which allows victims too traumatized to go to the police to undergo the procedure at hospitals, which will maintain the collected evidence in a sealed envelope identified only by a number, unless police access its contents upon the victim's decision to press charges. While the practice had been recommended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since at least 1999, and was already followed at some health clinics, colleges and hospitals, and in the state of Massachusetts, many jurisdictions up until then refused to pay the estimated $800 cost of the rape examination without a police report filed by the victim."

(See our discussion page for more interesting and sad statistics about rape kits state-by-state)

I think the ability to track your own case and get that up-to-the-minute info on it, to me, makes this worth signing. Think of how much emotional anxiety this will relieve so these victims can begin to heal faster. Not to mention this might not only solve some cases, but might mean more offenders are brought to justice, a huge load off any victims back. Now this can’t do much for the people that don’t report their rape, but if people start seeing even a slight improvement with these changes in the justice system, they might just be willing to come forward more often.

If you believe this is a good idea, please click the link below and sign the petition. No changes come from those who take no action.

SAFER Petition

Check out more about TeamStrick at:
http://teamstrick.org
http://twitter.com/TeamStrick

Check out more about R.I.S.E. at any of the following:
Website: avoiceforheather.tripod.com
Myspace: myspace.com/avoiceforheather
Blog: avoiceforheather.blogspot.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/avoiceforheather
Twitter: www.twitter.com/VoiceforHeather
Email: VoiceforHeather@yahoo.com