Experts Seek to Educate Community About Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations

This post was originally published on Afro

By Mylika Scatliffe

Rape. 

Sexual assault. 

To most people the terms are likely interchangeable. Google both terms and you will find multiple definitions. Go online to the U.S. Department of Justice and the definition of rape is: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” 

Simply reading the definition is unsettling. 

Even more unsettling for most victims of sexual violence who choose to go to a hospital for treatment is being subjected to the colloquially known “rape kit.” The objective of these exams is to collect forensic evidence from victims’ bodies to facilitate their cases should they go to court. However, having just experienced significant physical and emotional trauma, many victims are reluctant to subject themselves to a physical exam. 

“When a sexual assault occurs, the victim’s body unfortunately is the crime scene and the trauma of an assault might be intensified during evidence collection,” said Laura Clary, program manager of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) Sexual Assault Forensic Examination, Domestic Violence and Child Protection Program. 

Just before the Covid-19 pandemic, some companies began to market self-administered sexual assault kits. 

“Self-administered sexual assault kits are a commercial product that purport to allow survivors to collect evidence of rape. Some survivors are reluctant to go to a hospital to have a physical exam, and others have trouble getting an exam because of the nursing shortage and other barriers,” said Lisae Jordan, executive director and counsel at the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA). 

Even so, there has been significant controversy surrounding these kits. “Self-administered sexual assault kits have been widely criticized because they do not meet the standards necessary to be admitted in court as evidence because there is not a reliable chain of custody and they have not been administered by qualified staff. In addition, women pay for those tests while they are widely available free at hospitals and health facilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe in response to the Attorney General’s Office of Counsel to the Maryland General Assembly concerning these kits. 

“For this reason, and others, attorneys general in many states have issued cease and desist orders against their sale,” she added. 

As a nurse, Clary said her mind immediately thinks of the medical aspects and benefits of a professionally done exam.

“My immediate reaction on hearing about do-it-yourself rape kits is ‘Oh my gosh, people will think that is the best option and there is so much more to an exam than collecting physical evidence,’” said Clary. 

“There are so many benefits to an exam performed at a SAFE (Sexual Assault Forensic Examination) center or similar medical setting that patients will miss out on trying to do it themselves,” she continued. “There are antibiotics for infection or prophylactic treatment for pregnancy, medical treatments for injuries sustained during an assault, crisis counseling, and it is all 100 percent free of charge.” 

Clary described the steps taken and what a victim would encounter should they decide to come to a SAFE Center for examination. “A nurse will get a medical forensic history by talking to the victim about what happened, conduct an exam, and collect evidence based on the information they received about how the attack occurred. Evidence can be collected internally and externally; we can take vaginal, anal, and fingernail swabs based on what we learn from the victim about their attack. We get the patient’s consent for every aspect of the exam so they always feel in control of what is happening,” said Clary. 

“The evidence is collected to forensic standards, stored, and locked until a crime technician can come and collect the evidence for storage at the crime lab. It is usually collected within 24 hours,” Clary added. 

Conversely, home examination kits lack the standards for admissibility in court and they can prove challenging for non-professionals.

Clary said she purchased one of these kits and discovered the instructions to be overwhelming. The GBMC program manager shared a slideshow of the instructions with the AFRO. There were approximately nine steps, with each step having multiple bullet points of instruction. The kit supplies include sterile gloves, four swabs, two fingernail swabs, one sterile water bullet, swab boxes, one sticky tape for hair and debris, a permanent marker, evidence tape, a clothing bag and a bag for trace evidence. The final page of the instructions notes in fine print that the kit is not a substitute for collection of evidence by law enforcement or an examination performed by trained personnel and that there is no guarantee the evidence would be admissible in court. 

For someone who has experienced the trauma of a sexual assault, just reading the instructions can be a gargantuan task, let alone actually following them to the letter. If a victim manages to complete all the steps, they could eventually be disheartened at best and devastated at worst to find out the results can’t be used as evidence in court. 

“I don’t particularly have an opinion about the cease and desist orders, but I think it is really important that the companies marketing these products are transparent about the limitations of these kits,” said Clary. 

Jordan confirmed that the Maryland General Assembly is currently considering legislation that would result in the attorney general’s consumer protection division and the state’s Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Policy and Funding Committee working together to look at whether the marketing for self-administered kits is misleading to survivors. 

“MCASA supports the decisions of survivors, [but] it is vital that these decisions be informed and based on correct information,” said Jordan. 

The post Maryland experts seek to educate community about sexual assault forensic examinations appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.