City Government

New Law to End California’s Rape Kit Backlog

Published

9 years ago

January 21, 2014

Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) on Tuesday announced that she is introducing legislation to address the backlog of untested rape kits held in law enforcement agencies and forensic labs in California.

“We are here to make it clear that rape kits must be tested,” said Skinner, speaking at a press conference in front of the state building in Oakland.

Among those who spoke at the press conference were Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, Sandra Henriquez, Executive Director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Assemblymember Rob Bonta.

“To not test them is a second assault on the victim and can leave a perpetrator on the streets to offend again,” said Skinner.

She said part of the reason there is a backlog stems from a lack of funding for some crime labs, a breakdown of communication between law enforcement and crime labs, and a failure to have procedures in place to process the kits.

Currently, there is no comprehensive data on the exact number of unprocessed rape kits in California. The bill, AB 1517, would specify timelines for testing rape kits and entering DNA profile information into the Combined DNA Index System, a national database.

Police would turn over rape kit evidence to crime labs within five days wherein the crime lab must have the rape kits tested within 30 days.

In 2008, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department had a combined total of more than 12,000 untested rape kits in their custody. In 2012, Alameda County estimated their backlog of untested rape kits to be 1,900. According to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization, the national backlog is estimated to be around 400,000 untested rape kits.

“This legislation will provide justice to survivors of sexual assault by testing evidence collected during an invasive physical examination and using that evidence to capture and prosecute their assailants,” said District Attorney O’Malley.

“Our efforts must address the backlog throughout the state and the nation and this legislation serves as a vital step toward that goal,” she said.

Under California law, the Sexual Assault Victims’ DNA Bill of Rights identifies DNA as a tool for identifying and prosecuting sexual assault offenders. The DNA evidence is collected during a physical exam that can take up to six hours, and is compiled in the rape kit.

“It’s a retraumatization to be powerless to the rape itself and to be completely helpless in the system that is intended to protect and serve justice,” said Heather Marlowe, whose rape kit sat untested for two-and-a-half-years after being drug-raped in San Francisco on May 16, 2010. “This is a public emergency that needs to be addressed.”

At the crime lab, a DNA profile can be created, if enough DNA evidence is found, and uploaded into a national DNA database. While DNA can help identify unknown offenders, many sexual assaults are committed by persons known to the victim. Therefore, identity is not an issue in most sexual assaults, but can still affect the outcome of a conviction.

“We’ve got to test all the rape kits to prevent attackers from raping again even if it’s a known assailant,” said Skinner. “New York City implemented the policy of testing rape kits immediately and their arrest rate for rapes jumped from 40 percent to 70 percent. Nationally, the arrest rate is at 24 percent.”

Since 2010, only Colorado, Illinois and Texas enacted legislation that requires both the submission of sexual assault kits to crime labs within a time period and establishes tracking methods.

While legislators work to erase California’s backlog of rape kits, Oakland Police Department still has untested evidence from more than 300 homicide cases dating back years. In 2012, OPD solved 28 percent of the homicides in the city.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

Published

2 days ago

May 26, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 - 30, 2023

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Activism

Rise in Abductions of Black Girls in Oakland Alarms Sex-Trafficking Survivors

Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Nola Brantley and Sarai Smith-Mazariegos

By Tanya Dennis

Within the last 30 days there have been seven attempted kidnappings or successful abductions of Black girls in Oakland.

Survivors of human trafficking who are now advocates are not surprised.

Nor were they surprised that the police didn’t respond, and parents of victims turned to African American community-based organizations like Adamika Village and Love Never Fails for help.

Advocates say Black and Brown girls disappear daily, usually without a blip on the screen for society and government officials.

Perhaps that will change with a proposed law by state Senator Steven Bradford’s Senate Bill 673 Ebony Alert, that, if passed, will alert people when Black people under the age of 26 go missing.

According to the bill, Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts which means fewer resources are dedicated to finding them.

Brantley, a survivor of human trafficking has been doing the work to support child sex trafficking victims for over 20 years, first as the director for the Scotlan Youth and Family Center’s Parenting and Youth Enrichment Department at Oakland’s DeFremery Park, and as one of the co-founders and executive director of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY, Inc.)

“It really hit home in 2010,” said Brantley, “before California’s Welfare Institution Code 300 was amended to include children victimized by sex trafficking.”

Before that law was amended, she had to vehemently advocate for Black and Brown girls under the age of 18 to be treated as victims rather than criminalized.

Brantley served hundreds of Black and Brown girls citing these girls were victims so they would be treated as such and offered restorative services. “To get the police to take their disappearances seriously and file a report almost never happened,” she said.

Then Brantley received a call from the Board of Supervisors regarding a “special case.” A councilman was at the meeting, as well as a member of former Alameda County Board Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s Office who had called Brantley to attend.

“The child’s parents and the child were there also. They requested that I give my full attention to this case. The girl was white and there was no question of her victimization,” Brantley said.

Brantley felt conflicted that of all the hundreds of Black and Brown girls she’d served, none had ever received this type of treatment.

Her eyes were opened that day on how “they” move, therefore with the recent escalation of kidnapping attempts of Black girls, Brantley fears that because it’s happening to Black girls the response will not be taken seriously.

Councilwoman Treva Reid

“I thank Councilwoman Treva Reid and Senator Steven Bradford (D) for pushing for the passing of the Ebony Alert Bill across the state so that the disappearance of Black girls will be elevated the same as white girls. We’ve never had a time when Black girls weren’t missing. Before, it didn’t matter if we reported it or if the parents reported the police failed to care.”

Senator Steven Bradford

Sarai S-Mazariegos, co-founder of M.I.S.S.S.E.Y, and founder and executive director of Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment (S.H.A.D.E.) agrees with Brantley.

“What we are experiencing is the effects of COVID-19, poverty and a regressive law that has sentence the most vulnerable to the sex trade,” S-Mazariegos said. “We are seeing the lack of equity in the community, the cause and consequence of gender inequality and a violation of our basic human rights. What we are seeing is sexual exploitation at its finest.”

Both advocates are encouraged by Bradford’s Ebony Alert.

The racism and inequity cited has resulted in the development of an underground support system by Brantley, S-Mazariegos and other community-based organizations who have united to demand change.

Thus far they are receiving support from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, and Oakland City Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Reid of the second and seventh districts respectively.

For more information, go to http://www.blackandmissinginc.com