My Contribution to International Women's* Day
I found a great organization. Their goal is to get rid of the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States. The site is: www.endthebacklog.org.
And now I will post some probably triggering statistics in honour of this, so behind a cut they go:
These are quotes taken from that website:
"Unfortunately, the vast majority of law enforcement jurisdictions do not require that every rape kit be tested. Experts in the federal government estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in police and crime lab storage facilities throughout the United States."
"About Sexual Violence
Every year, tens of thousands of individuals report their rape to the police. Despite that figure, rape has the lowest reporting, arrest and prosecution rates of all violent crimes in the United States. The statistics... around sexual violence are shocking:
* 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
* Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
* Only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail."
Disgusting, isn't it?
Oh, but it gets worse:
"Very few rape cases make it to an investigative stage where law enforcement would request the kit for testing. In the United States, according to the latest FBI crime data, the crime of rape has a 24% arrest rate-the lowest recorded arrest rate for rape in nearly 40 years of tracking such information. This means that a rape victim has a one in five chance of seeing her perpetrator brought to justice. It also means that a rapist has a 74% chance of getting away with the crime. "
Go to that website for more information.
Also, comments are screened so only friends can see since this is a public post.
*I am in no means implying that rape only happens to women. It just seemed like an appropriate topic for today.
And now I will post some probably triggering statistics in honour of this, so behind a cut they go:
These are quotes taken from that website:
"Unfortunately, the vast majority of law enforcement jurisdictions do not require that every rape kit be tested. Experts in the federal government estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in police and crime lab storage facilities throughout the United States."
"About Sexual Violence
Every year, tens of thousands of individuals report their rape to the police. Despite that figure, rape has the lowest reporting, arrest and prosecution rates of all violent crimes in the United States. The statistics... around sexual violence are shocking:
* 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
* Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
* Only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail."
Disgusting, isn't it?
Oh, but it gets worse:
"Very few rape cases make it to an investigative stage where law enforcement would request the kit for testing. In the United States, according to the latest FBI crime data, the crime of rape has a 24% arrest rate-the lowest recorded arrest rate for rape in nearly 40 years of tracking such information. This means that a rape victim has a one in five chance of seeing her perpetrator brought to justice. It also means that a rapist has a 74% chance of getting away with the crime. "
Go to that website for more information.
Also, comments are screened so only friends can see since this is a public post.
*I am in no means implying that rape only happens to women. It just seemed like an appropriate topic for today.