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Rape victim goes to jail

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/30/jai....ap/index.html

Quote:

While she was behind bars, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions, the college student's attorney said.

The 21-year-old woman was released Monday only after attorney Vic Moore reported her plight to the local media. (Watch the mother describe how her daughter was twice vicitimized )

"Shocked. Stunned. Outraged. I don't have words to describe it," Moore said. "She is not a victim of any one person. She is a victim of the system. There's just got to be some humanity involved when it's a victim of rape."

Moore said the young woman was not allowed to take the second emergency contraceptive pill until Monday afternoon, a day late, after reporters called police and jail officials.

Tampa Police Chief Steve Hogue said the arrest led to a new policy Tuesday that tells officers not to arrest a crime victim who has suffered injury or mental trauma whenever "reasonably possible." The agency also apologized to the student.

"Obviously, any policy that allows a sexual battery victim to spend a night in jail is a flawed policy," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

The woman is not being identified by The Associated Press because she reported being the victim of a sex crime.

Tampa attorney Jennifer D'Angelo, who represents the jail worker, said Tuesday that her client is prohibited from giving inmates any medication without specific orders. The worker insists she never discussed religion with the woman who reported being raped.

"She was mortified at what was being reported in the press," said D'Angelo, who declined to identify the worker. "She's frightened for her job and she's frightened about community backlash about these allegations."

The employee, who has worked for a jail health care contractor for about six months, was placed on administrative leave, D'Angelo said.

Moore said it was too soon to say if his client would sue. Her priority is making sure detectives find her attacker.

"She is brave," Moore said. "We are going to work with police to catch this monster."

The woman was in Tampa on Saturday for Gasparilla, an annual pirate-theme parade that draws thousands of people. She said she was walking alone to her car when a man pulled her behind a building and raped her, McElroy said.

She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.

Later, as she was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark, police found the warrant stemming from a 2003 juvenile arrest for grand theft and burglary. It said she owed $4,585.

"They stopped the investigation right there" and put her in handcuffs, Moore said.

Authorities arranged a special bail hearing Monday.

"When the chief's office learned we had a rape victim in jail, we began working very aggressively to get her out," McElroy said.

Jennifer Dritt, executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, wanted more explanation from the jail, saying the woman's arrest "makes people think law enforcement doesn't have a victim-centered approach."

Moore said his client said she paid the fine for what he described as a childish mistake. He didn't have details of that arrest. The woman has no criminal history as an adult, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

You know... As much as I try I don't feel much remorse for her. While rape is nothing to laugh about, neither is grand theft or burglary. The woman wasn't completely ignored-- She was given medical attention and given the first of two morning-after pills before being taken to jail. Now, from what I know about the morning after pill, it can be taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse so upon her release she still would have had time to take the pill.

It's just my belief, but simply because you have a crime committed against you doesn't mean you should be absolved of the crimes you committed against another.

And, off-topic, I hate Nancy Grace. She's completely biased.

She was a(alleged) rape victim. I understand the police were doing their job, that she had warrants, but first things first. If those warrants were so important, she wouldn't have been raped because she'd have maybe been in jail beforehand. /end speculation
Circumstance doesn't make a crime like rape any less horrible or any less a crime.
The morning-after pill thing seems incomplete, but if you can take it 72 hours later, I don't understand that particular complaint.
Is there a link to this?

They should have given her the pill. That's about it.

They stopped looking for the crime scene!?!
That is totally unacceptable!

For a record she had as a minor, they can arrest her later.. or, just ask her to pay the fine.

They just said "you have a warrant and because of that we don't care that you got raped."

She will sue and win.

I would sue for that (and i hate people who sue), its not like she's going to bugger off during the investigation, they can arrest her later over the previous crime.

Jeez, it seems common sense is uncommon these days.

The part where they withheld the pill because of the worker's religious beliefs was totally unacceptable.
As for being arrested for another charge after being raped, as my father used to say "the law has no compassion". As a society its useless to argue otherwise.

I don't understand. Did the worker hold out the pill because of the workers religious belief or not? It says that the worker did but then said "Tampa attorney Jennifer D'Angelo, who represents the jail worker, said Tuesday that her client is prohibited from giving inmates any medication without specific orders. The worker insists she never discussed religion with the woman who reported being raped." Is the reporter just putting her own spin on this to make it more dramatic?

It sounded like spin to me!

In my experence, the police would rather make an arrest than solve a crime.
It's easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flat5

In my experence, the police would rather make an arrest than solve a crime.
It's easier.

It sounds like this is just standard procedure for the department. Right or wrong, the officers didn't have much choice. If there was no other option, the cops' opinion on what should be done does really matter.

In other words, this was a departmental failure not an individual failure.

They might have cuffed her and continued to look for the crime scene.

Flat, that's apparently against regulations as well. It sounds like no one in the department is happy with how this one had to go down. Unless you've got information to the contrary that's not in the above article, I find it hard to imagine that detectives are going to be happy about having to take a rape victim to jail over something like this.