Role Model

I've been thinking about role models lately, and how they can impact our lives and make us rethink things. I'm not talking about supposed entertainment role models, like, let's say Michael Vick, who gets lumped into being a sports role model just because his natural abilities led to making a lot of money which led to running a dog fighting ring which led to jail. Oops.

I'm talking about average people. I'm talking about someone like Debbie Smith.

"Who?" you're thinking. Well let me backtrack for a while.

APRIL 29, 2009
It was a bit slow at work, so I was doing my usual checking of my favorite websites: gofugyourself.com, facebook.com, chey's blog, nytimes.com. I scan over the op-ed titles, and there is Nicholas Kristof's column, with the title, "Is Rape Serious?" A chill went through me. I felt frozen. Then I felt angry - who the hell does this NY Times guy think he is? Of course, Kristof has a knack for titling his columns pretty provocatively - see today's, "Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You're a Liberal." How could you not read it?

So I read it (well, both the columns, but we're talking about April 29th). It was about the backlog of rape kits in this country, mostly concentrating on LA county. At the time of a Human Rights Watch account of the problem, there were 12,669 rape kits sitting in police storage facilities in LA county alone - 450 of which had been untouched in 10 years. After the crime itself, then being brave enough to suffer through the process of having a rape kit done, the fact that police departments let the evidence sit on shelves is beyond insulting. Why? There is talk of cost, the difficulty of prosecution (no one wants to argue a he said/she said case), and the questioning of the victims credibility.

Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=1
Link to the HRW report: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/03/31/testing-justice-0

This is not the case in New York City. In 1999, Howard Safir, the Police Commissioner at the time, was frustrated with the rape kit backlog in the city. He helped found the Rape Evidence Project which raised private funds to get rid of the backlog. New York City cleared all 16,000 of its outstanding rape kits by 2003, and has not had a backlog since.

But that's just New York City. Human Rights Watch estimated that there were 500,000 nationwide in 2002, up from 180,000 in 1999.

That was before Debbie Smith. Debbie Smith was a rape victim who was kidnapped from her home. Her attacker threatened to come back and kill her if she reported the crime. She first found the strength to ignore his threats and reported the rape (her husband was a police officer), and submitted to a rape kit. It sat in storage for six and a half years. During that time, she lived in fear and was suicidal, not knowing of course that the rapist was sitting in jail after having been arrested a couple of months after the rape for an unrelated crime.

After the kit was tested, her rapist was convicted. This was not the end for Debbie though. She decided after the ordeal to lobby for nationwide DNA-matching technology. She testified in front of Congress and worked with Caroline Maloney who was working on anti-rape legislation at the time. In November 2004, the Debbie Smith Act was passed which provided federal funding to deal with the nationwide epidemic of the rape kit backlog. The funding has been renewed, with new funds totaling $151 million for 2009.

Unfortunately, even with the funding, there is still a backlog. Most of the focus is on LA County and the City of Los Angeles, but they are not alone in their negligence on this issue. That's a whole different blog entry.

Back to Debbie Smith and her role model-ness. I admire this woman for coming forward although she was threatened. I admire her for going through having a rape kit performed, although it is an invasive process. Mostly, I admire her for this: she did not remain quiet after her case was closed, she continued to fight for other women who may end up in the same devastating situation, and she continues to fight. Although I still think we're a long way off, her efforts may help ease the stigma of this crime for women.