- Sep 6, 2000
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No, i've not lost my mind. She's right on this one issue... who'd have thunk it?
Story link
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is joining the growing effort to get rid of the backlog of DNA samples that could be used to track and convict rapists but instead are sitting useless on shelves in law enforcement offices across the country.
Senator Clinton has introduced legislation that would provide federal money to help pay for the analysis of DNA samples in as many as 500,000 packages of evidence commonly known as rape kits. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House by Representative Jerrold Nadler.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the case of Debbie Smith, a woman in Williamsburg, Va., who was accosted in her home by an intruder in 1989. She was forced to go into the woods behind her house, where she was raped. Ms. Smith was blindfolded during the attack, but the DNA sample that was taken at a local hospital led to the rapist's arrest and conviction.
The problem in that case was that six and a half years elapsed before the DNA evidence was connected to the rapist. Because of a backlog, it took more than a year just to get the DNA analyzed. And then, because of a lack of systematic procedures for the handling of DNA evidence, five more years passed before a match was made.
It turned out that the rapist had been in prison for another crime during most of the six-and-a-half-year period. During that entire time Ms. Smith lived with the fear that the rapist would return and attack her again.
"The evidence was right there," she told me. "But the case took six long years. And other cases aren't solved at all. I'm speaking out because I hope somehow it will help to make other women safer."
Similar delays in the processing and handling of DNA evidence continue to this day. The delays are a boon to rapists and a nightmare to those victims ? nobody knows how many ? who would have been spared if DNA evidence had been used in a timely way to get their attackers off the streets. In some instances the rape kits sit on shelves, with the DNA unprocessed, until the statute of limitations runs out.
In an interview on Friday, Mrs. Clinton noted that according to Department of Justice statistics, "Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted."
She said that to ignore valuable evidence against rapists because of a lack of money is "just unacceptable." The legislation that she and Representative Nadler have introduced would provide what it describes as "adequate funding to ensure that the backlog of unanalyzed rape kits is eliminated."
"We've had a steep increase in the number of reported rapes here in New York City," Mrs. Clinton said, "and that is being mirrored in other places across the nation. It is now apparent that unless we process this information and start putting it to use, we are likely to see people who are serial rapists continue their crimes when we could have apprehended them before they could strike again."
This is the latest effort in a national movement to bring a greater degree of funding and professionalism to the collection and processing of DNA evidence in rape cases.
Delays in DNA processing are not the only problem. In many cases rape kits are sloppily or improperly handled, and thus prove useless even after they are analyzed. Most rape victims never see a trained examiner after the attack. And in a large percentage of cases where DNA evidence is collected by untrained examiners, it ends up being declared inadmissible in court.
Legislation introduced recently in the House by Carolyn Maloney of New York and Mark Green of Wisconsin, and in the Senate by Maria Cantwell of Washington, would bring about improvements in these areas. Among other things, the legislation, which is named after Debbie Smith, would provide funds to train personnel throughout the U.S. in the proper collection and handling of DNA evidence. And it would standardize the evidence kits in sexual assault cases, making it easier to enter the information into state and national databases.
Mrs. Clinton said on Friday that she had become a co-sponsor of that legislation as well. "There are lots of problems we have today in law enforcement," she said. "With terrorism we are faced with difficult challenges. But this is a solvable problem. We shouldn't go another year without dealing with it."
Story link
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is joining the growing effort to get rid of the backlog of DNA samples that could be used to track and convict rapists but instead are sitting useless on shelves in law enforcement offices across the country.
Senator Clinton has introduced legislation that would provide federal money to help pay for the analysis of DNA samples in as many as 500,000 packages of evidence commonly known as rape kits. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House by Representative Jerrold Nadler.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the case of Debbie Smith, a woman in Williamsburg, Va., who was accosted in her home by an intruder in 1989. She was forced to go into the woods behind her house, where she was raped. Ms. Smith was blindfolded during the attack, but the DNA sample that was taken at a local hospital led to the rapist's arrest and conviction.
The problem in that case was that six and a half years elapsed before the DNA evidence was connected to the rapist. Because of a backlog, it took more than a year just to get the DNA analyzed. And then, because of a lack of systematic procedures for the handling of DNA evidence, five more years passed before a match was made.
It turned out that the rapist had been in prison for another crime during most of the six-and-a-half-year period. During that entire time Ms. Smith lived with the fear that the rapist would return and attack her again.
"The evidence was right there," she told me. "But the case took six long years. And other cases aren't solved at all. I'm speaking out because I hope somehow it will help to make other women safer."
Similar delays in the processing and handling of DNA evidence continue to this day. The delays are a boon to rapists and a nightmare to those victims ? nobody knows how many ? who would have been spared if DNA evidence had been used in a timely way to get their attackers off the streets. In some instances the rape kits sit on shelves, with the DNA unprocessed, until the statute of limitations runs out.
In an interview on Friday, Mrs. Clinton noted that according to Department of Justice statistics, "Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted."
She said that to ignore valuable evidence against rapists because of a lack of money is "just unacceptable." The legislation that she and Representative Nadler have introduced would provide what it describes as "adequate funding to ensure that the backlog of unanalyzed rape kits is eliminated."
"We've had a steep increase in the number of reported rapes here in New York City," Mrs. Clinton said, "and that is being mirrored in other places across the nation. It is now apparent that unless we process this information and start putting it to use, we are likely to see people who are serial rapists continue their crimes when we could have apprehended them before they could strike again."
This is the latest effort in a national movement to bring a greater degree of funding and professionalism to the collection and processing of DNA evidence in rape cases.
Delays in DNA processing are not the only problem. In many cases rape kits are sloppily or improperly handled, and thus prove useless even after they are analyzed. Most rape victims never see a trained examiner after the attack. And in a large percentage of cases where DNA evidence is collected by untrained examiners, it ends up being declared inadmissible in court.
Legislation introduced recently in the House by Carolyn Maloney of New York and Mark Green of Wisconsin, and in the Senate by Maria Cantwell of Washington, would bring about improvements in these areas. Among other things, the legislation, which is named after Debbie Smith, would provide funds to train personnel throughout the U.S. in the proper collection and handling of DNA evidence. And it would standardize the evidence kits in sexual assault cases, making it easier to enter the information into state and national databases.
Mrs. Clinton said on Friday that she had become a co-sponsor of that legislation as well. "There are lots of problems we have today in law enforcement," she said. "With terrorism we are faced with difficult challenges. But this is a solvable problem. We shouldn't go another year without dealing with it."
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