A Los Angeles, in California, 12.000 rape kits rimangono giacenti in attesa di essere testati. Questo significa che 12.000 donne e ragazze vittime di violenza sessuale attendono di avere delle possibilità concrete che i loro assalitori vengano trovati e, di conseguenza, processati e condannati.

La ricercatricce Sarah Tofte ha svolto un'indagine per conto di Human Rights Watch che ha anche pubblicato una relazione.

Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested. And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free.

Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US program at Human Rights Watch

 

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/31/us-los-angeles-county-should-test-thousands-rape-kits

 

12,000 Untested Kits Undermine Investigations and Justice for Victims

Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested. And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free.

Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US program at Human Rights Watch

(Los Angeles) - Los Angeles County officials should move urgently to test a backlog of more than 12,000 rape kits - the physical evidence collected after a sexual assault - to ensure justice for rape victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 68-page report, "Testing Justice: The Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County," reveals that the backlog of untested rape kits in Los Angeles County is larger and more widespread than previously reported. Through dozens of interviews with police officers, public officials, criminalists, rape treatment providers, and rape victims, the report documents the devastating effects of the backlog on victims of sexual abuse.

"Women who are raped have a right to expect police to do all they can to thoroughly investigate their case, but in LA they often feel betrayed to learn that their rape kits are never even tested," said Sarah Tofte, researcher with Human Rights Watch's US program and author of the report. "And in some cases, failure to test means that a rapist who could have been arrested will remain free."

Women who report being raped are asked to undergo a lengthy, extensive examination to collect DNA and other physical evidence that might identify their attacker, corroborate testimony about the assault, or connect their case to other rape crime scene evidence. The resulting rape kit is then booked into police evidence. However, although rape victims may believe it is automatically tested, that is often not the case in Los Angeles County. Rape treatment providers told Human Rights Watch that victims assumed silence from the officers investigating their case simply meant no evidence was found, or that there was no DNA match.

But Human Rights Watch analyzed data from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and Los Angeles County's 47 independent police departments, and found that as of March 1, 2009, there were at least 12,669 untested rape kits sitting in storage facilities. In those cases, officers never sent the kits on for forensic testing.

Of these 12,669 untested kits, at least 1,218 are from unsolved cases in which the attacker was a stranger to the victim. And 499 kits are attached to cases past the 10-year statute of limitations for rape in California, making it impossible to prosecute the alleged assailants even if they were to be identified. Under California law, if those 499 kits had been opened within two years of the attack, the statute would no longer apply. Thousands more rape kits were destroyed untested.

The backlog grew even as the Police and Sheriff's Departments received millions of federal dollars from the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant, a program the US Congress created to address rape kit backlogs, the effect of which is blunted by the fact that grantees can use the money to test any kind of DNA backlog.

Human Rights Watch's report also contains previously unpublished data on the extent of the rape kit backlog in the 47 cities in Los Angeles County that have independent police departments. For example, records obtained by Human Rights Watch show that the City of Long Beach booked 1,911 rape kits into evidence in the past 15 years. Of those, 51 were sent to the crime lab, an estimated 780 untested kits were destroyed, and 1,072 currently sit untested in their police storage facility. (A chart of data from the 47 cities is available in chapter VI of the report.)

Backlogs of rape kits exist at police stations and crime labs throughout the United States, but nowhere is the problem known to be more acute than Los Angeles. The accumulation of rape kits in Los Angeles County is due to a combination of police discretion regarding which rape kits get tested; a lack of financial commitment to testing; and the length of time it took officials to acknowledge the nature and extent of the problem, Human Rights Watch said.

"Failing to test rape kits denies justice to women who've suffered sexual violence," said Tofte. "If officials had spent federal money to test more kits, they might have prevented future rapes and allowed for prosecution in cases that are now beyond the statute of limitations."

The backlog can have tragic results. In one case documented in the report, in the time it took police to test one woman's rape kit, the alleged perpetrator had attacked at least two other victims, including a child.

 

Per leggere tutto l'articolo cliccate sul link riportato sopra.

Per chi avesse interesse a leggere la relazione nella sua interezza ecco il file pdf:

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/rapekit0309web.pdf

 

 

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Mentre gli Stati Uniti arrancano ancora ad eliminare il bando contro gli omosessuali nell'esercito, dall'america latina lo stato dell'Uruguay annuncia pubblicamente di ammettere senza riserve le persone gay tra le proprie fila.

Purtroppo la notizia è associata ad un'altra decisamente negativa. Il Perù ha invece adottato misure omofobe contro i polizitti gay "colpevoli" di dare scandalo.

The Uruguayan president, Tabare Vazquez, scrapped a law from the 1973-85 dictatorship that barred gay people from military academies, cementing his country's reputation as one of the most progressive in the region.

"The Uruguayan government does not discriminate against citizens based on their political, ethnic or sexual identity," Vazquez said.

The defence minister, Jose Bayardi, signed the decree this week. The ban had categorised homosexuality among the "mental illnesses and disorders" that rendered military recruits unsuitable to serve.

Latin America, long a redoubt of conservative Catholicism, homophobia and machismo, has mellowed in recent years. Colombia and Mexico City moved to grant more rights to gay couples, Buenos Aires opened a flagship gay hotel and Paraguay signalled it too would allow gay people in the military.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/south-america-gay-rights

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Her name is Hosne Ara Begum and she has been in the police force since 1981. Human rights activist Khushi Kabir: A very important fact for a chauvinist and Islamic society such as Bangladesh.

Women first entered the country’s police force in 1974.  Then there were only 14, now  there are 1,937, and among them 1,331 police constables. Contacted by AsiaNews, Begun said she is “really lucky to be the first female Office-in-Charge and to be a positive part of history in Bangladesh. I have been given the chance to prove my commitment to the nation once more”.

For Khushi Kabir, a prominent human rights activist, Begun’s appointment is an important sign for discrimination against women. 

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15319

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/05/22/1821s486760.htm

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Acts of violence against women accounted for more indictments against off duty police officers than any other crime in the last decade.

In all, 48 cases dealt with either assault or the related crime of gross violation of a woman's integrity (gvov kvinnofridskränkning). The majority of cases in recent years have led to convictions.

"We are the first to admit that this is a difficult situation. We must not hide the issue," said Liljemor Melin-Sving, deputy chairperson of the Swedish Police Union, to the newspaper.  

http://www.thelocal.se/22506/20091007/

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As one, the stony faces broke into a free-for-all of kisses, hugs and tears on Monday as the 50 women who called themselves the Lioness group became the first female graduates of Iraq’s police officer training academy.

“Some people have a view of Iraqi women that for them to join the police academy is a shame,” said Alla Nozad Falih, 22, wearing a star on her epaulet that marked her as a first lieutenant. Like about half of the group’s members, she wore her hair uncovered except by a uniform blue beret, and like 26 of her female classmates, she joined the academy after finishing law school.

All said their families had encouraged them to join the academy. But during the course some mentioned receiving threats from men in their communities, said Nana Shriver, a Danish police major who was an adviser on the women’s training.

Though the male students all slept at the academy, there was no housing for women, so they had to commute, some leaving their homes as early as 4 a.m. and returning after dark.

“We had workshops about the challenges they face from males, from society,” Major Shriver said. “Some said they were threatened by others because they were female.”

But Lieutenant Hameed, like others, said their gender provided advantages. They could interview women and children in crimes like rape or sexual abuse in a way that would be hard for men, she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/world/middleeast/10iraq.html?_r=1

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Ottima idea.

Members of the public would be told if partners had a history of domestic violence – similar to the pilot, established after campaigning in the wake of the murder of Sarah Payne, where parents could check if someone who has access to their children has a history of child sex or violence offences.

The move would be backed up by a second proposal from The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to set up a register for up to 25,000 serial wife-beaters where they would have to keep police up to date with their movements and activities.

The proposals come as part of a Home Office review of how to best deal with abuse and violence against women and girls.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6582192/Police-want-women-to-know-if-their-partner-has-violent-past.html

 

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specialised division for victims of violence against women, children and adolescents at the seventh police precinct, one of the two stations in Asunción where the initiative has first been implemented.

The plan is to gradually set up such units around the entire country.

”Normally you receive all kinds of complaints in police stations, with domestic violence cases being mixed in with the rest, which means the people filing this kind of complaint often don’t receive the proper attention and follow-up,”

Based on 2008 data, the Paraguayan Centre for Population Studies found that 17 percent of girls and teenagers suffered physical violence before the age of 15 and 20 percent saw or heard their father or stepfather physically abuse their mother.

The new police units are the creation of an ”inter-institutional committee for integral care for victims of violence”, set up in 2008 by the ministries of the interior and public health and the secretariats of women and children and adolescents. 

Cantero said that he is now aware that domestic violence is a serious problem in Paraguay, and that a different kind of treatment by the police is needed.

”The victims are treated as vulnerable people – you have to be patient and help them feel safe and get them to understand that they will receive support,” he said with conviction.

The unit has a staff of 30 officers between the ages of 24 and 30, who after they were selected received two months of training on issues like human rights, a gender perspective and avoiding behaviour that ”revictimises the victim.”

Colmán said the abuse victims make their complaints in private, and that they are given detailed advice on what steps to take.

Since it opened, her unit has received 110 domestic abuse complaints, with the largest number coming from women, and a smaller number from youngsters. The complaints included physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as death threats.

http://globalgeopolitics.net/wordpress/2010/03/25/paraguay-new-police-units-for-domestic-violence-victims/

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Congratulazioni!

The new chief of police in Chippewa Falls receives words of encouragement from someone who can offer perspective.

Tuesday night, the Police and Fire Commission named Wendy Stelter the new Chippewa Police Chief. For years, law enforcement has been a male-dominated industry. Stelter will become the first female chief in Chippewa. It still hasn't happened in Eau Claire or Menomonie. But it has in Thorp.

Sharon Verges has been the chief of police in Thorp for nearly four years now. She came into the position with some large shoes to fill, the former chief had been with the department for 27 years, and was a man. "I think that women have had to work extra hard to get to that place where the communities, and the people on the boards and councils feel that women are capable of doing the same job," said Stelter.

 From one chief to another, Verges offered her encouragement to Wendy Stelter. "Just take time to enjoy and to get to know the people, I'm sure she's going to do a wonderful job."

http://www.wqow.com/global/story.asp?s=12158770

 

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