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My wife was a volunteer victim's advocate for a national rape crisis organization. She would regularly go to the hospital and assist the victim during the State's rape exam. This exam includes swabbing the interior of the vagina,uterus; taking pubic hair samples; confiscating the clothes worn during the assault; taking blood samples; taking lengthy written statements; fingernail scrapings. My wife never discussed the race, age, or any other identifying information of victims and accused with me. However, I learned that rape seems to be the most complicated person-on-person crimes we have on the books. If one thinks about it, strong arm robbery, battery, even murder are relatively straight forward when compared to the complexity of rape because the consensual act and the non-consensual act leave most of the same evidence, especially with acquaintance rape. So, that leaves the difficult task of determining consent at the time of the act, which is key and is a real challenge for prosecutors.
My wife told stories of girls that were caught by their parents and screamed rape, of prostitutes that said they were abducted, of men who demand sex for drugs, of girls that would get slipped date rape drugs and couldn't remember the rape (even though there was evidence),..... it goes on and on. I never heard one single story that I considered a cut and dry case of rape (at the prosecutorial level), and that was after two years of her doing the work! That doesn't mean that there are no cut and dry rape cases, it simply means that she never experienced one.
The fact is, most of the cases are so difficult to prove in a court of law and the victim is ALWAYS on trial. The rape exam is so humiliating that many girls will recant at the very thought of taking the exam. Sometimes, the police will even use the fear of the rape exam as a screening device for the fortitude of the victim during trial. For example, a girl came in with her mother. After a lengthy interview, the nurses prepared the girl for the rape exam. The mother was asked to leave the room. As soon as she did, the girl admitted that the sex was consensual and her mother made her come to the hospital. Who knows if it was consensual? The girl was so scared of the exam, she wanted out!
I don't have a solution, I just wanted to lament that it is so complicated for victims to get their justice and the falsely accused to get their images cleared.
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Gives a man a halo, does mead.
"Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly."
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