This should be the most important parallel story today
Amidst all of attention focused in Washington comes this under the radar story that really illuminates how we feel about sexual assault as a Country
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/After-10-year-rape-kit-delay-man-charged-with-13279350.php
It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of rape kits nationally that have never been tested. Following the trauma of a sexual assault, the victim goes through the added indignity of having evidence to be collected. To allow that evidence to languish untested is a national disgrace.
We owe it to the victims to pursue their cases wherever they lead starting with the most basic of testing for their rape kits. I am both shocked and appalled that we as a society have allowed this to happen.
And make no mistake about it, this is about more than justice for the victim. Every single kit that goes untested is a missed opportunity to get a rapist off the street. Logic dictates that those untested kits likely include multitudes of serial rapists and repeat offenders who continued to rape women because no one was even looking for them. Some day we will learn that thousands of additional women were assaulted by men that should have been behind bars already. Indeed, the man in this story was arrested a number of times in the intervening period for other crimes. I would bet my paycheck that he raped other women during that decade. In fact, it may very well be that his DNA will show up in additional rape kits to be tested.
At least there is progress. This arrest is a result of a concerted effort to revisit the backlogged cases. But it boggles the mind how we got here and why we can't make this a higher priority.
When people ask you why women sometimes don't report rapes, this is one of a thousand reasons why.
More on it from this HuffPo article https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-rape-kit-backlog-shows-exactly-how-we-regard-women-in-this-country_us_5acfb5e1e4b016a07e9a8c65
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When the cops are mostly men, they tend to see the victims in a different (not-so-friendly) light. That's why most metro police dept's now have female cops handling the rape and sexual assault cases. It's because the male cops were doing a terrible job. I do believe things are changing, but not fast enough.
I agree that this is a national disgrace. And it's hideous the way they add insult to injury by not believing or acting on the female victim's charges.
