Hayley Berry
Mr. Ippolito
Current Event
1/8/18
“Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI.” Forensic Magazine, 4 Jan. 2018,www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/01/rape-kits-america-battling-backlog-backlog-saki.
For this current event I read the article “Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI” by Seth Augenstein. In this article they talk about how horrible the rape kit system is in America. They also talked about how at many police stations they have lots of rape kits sitting on shelves and never get processed. “ Between 400 and 500 of the potential case-cracking matches were sitting on the shelves, the Akron police said at the time.” This goes to show that there are so many things that are wrong with how America deals with rape and how they don't value the victims at all because they don't give them justice. Overall, this article was talking about how rape cases don't get tested and they sit on shelves forever and the people that were hurt don't get any closer.
This is a very present topic in our world today because there are so many cases that have recently come out about men in Hollywood. Although the allegations that were coming out about the men in Hollywood were more about rape, the people that were silent finally came out and said something. The rape cases that are sitting on the shelves at the police stations are going too good use just sitting there. There should be a better way of a test for rape.
I thought that this article was very informative and it taught me a lot about how rape cases are processed and not processed. I thought that they did a great job explaining the detail on how they are doing the process wrong. One thing that I thought was bad during the article was it was a little repetitive. Overall I thought this was a great article and it was a great choice to read with what has been popping up today.
4 comments:
This week my classmate Hayley did a current event on the article “Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI.” which was written by Seth Augustine. The article published in Forensic Magazines talks about the many rape kits in America which just sit in evidence lockers. The first thing that surprised me was that between 400 and 500 of the potential case-cracking matches were sitting on the shelves in the akron police department. I really like how Hayley contextualised the information given with the current scandals in Hollywood. Lastly, I was shocked that police in Cleveland had a significant backlog of 1,432 kists. Out of these kits, 594 had matches, which had a matching rate of 41 percent. This is completely not okay. If these were processed swiftly, these women would've gotten the justice they deserved sooner, and these offenders off the street.
Although Hayley did a great job in her review of this article, there were a few things she could have did better. I found that her review was a bit scarce in information. I had to go to the original article to find out new facts for my own comment. Finally I felt that she could have added information about why these kits don't get processed. However, she successfully conveyed the message of the article in her review.
As I said above, I liked how Hayley related this article to the Hollywood scandals. Movements like the #MeToo movement and #TimesUp plan to tackle all forms of sexual assault - not just in Hollywood, but all over the world. This article is extremely relevant in our current society. I’m glad we’re not just addressing the issue, but finding ways how the system has failed women and are trying to find solutions to these problems.
Kelsey Ravesloot
“Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI.” Forensic Magazine, 4 Jan. 2018,www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/01/rape-kits-america-battling-backlog-backlog-saki.
Hayley wrote a review on the article, ““Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI”. I thought this article was pretty well written. I like how she wrote about a topic that is very popular in our society today. I think Hayley did a very good job on trying to explain how much the issue affects our society.
Although I think her article was well written, there are some things that I wish Hayley included more of. For example, I wish that Hayley included more quotes in her review. I also wish that Hayley gave some more background information and included more direct facts from the article.
Overall I think Hayley’s review was interesting to read. This topic has become an even bigger topic in the media, so it is always interesting to hear more specific information about it and more opinions on the issue.
Martha Thomas
Current Event Comment
“Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI.” Forensic Magazine, 4 Jan. 2018,
www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/01/rape-kits-america-battling-backlog-backlog-saki.
I though Hayley Barry did a good job on her current events report. When she used a quote from the article, it added to the content of her report because it was specific. Hayley’s statistic that 400 of 500 rape kits never get processed really got my attention. Hayley used statistics to make her report more interesting and to express the magnitude of the problem that her article addressed. Hayley effectively connected this article to all the sexual harassment allegations surfacing in hollywood right now. Hayley recognized that the legal system is not giving rape victims justice.
Hayley could have improved her article by using stronger language. Hayley repeatedly used the phrase “sitting on shelves” when referring to all the unprocessed rape kits. Hayley failed to articulate the fact that police officers and other employees at police stations were choosing not process these kits. Hayley also could have provided a more thorough summary of the original article, including details about the contents of a rape kit and the steps forensics scientists take to analyze them.
Before reading this report I was aware that sexual assault and harassment are huge problems in America, but I did not know that many police are neglecting these cases. I find this shocking, and am upset about it. I hope that the conversation about women’s rights and equality expands to address the ways that our forensic analysts are failing many women.
“Rape Kits in America: Battling the Backlog-on-Backlog in SAKI.” Forensic Magazine, 4 Jan. 2018,
www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/01/rape-kits-america-battling-backlog-backlog-saki.
Haley's write up is on an article that displays the internal corruption of crime solving within the force. THe statistic provided accounted for over 400 rape kits undeveloped or processed by a forensic unit. Haley even uses statistics not seen within the original article in order to support her case. She even relates our societies hushing of Sexual assault cases(especially in Hollywood) the emergence between movements like #METOO and Times Up, may hopefully have a role in more rigor regarding sexual assault and rape case. It would have however been more informative if Haley articulated a little bit more, for example she assumed her readers knew how a rape kit worked and all though it was implied she never specifically stated that the kits were unprocessed on purpose.
Overall, this article adds to the awakening of our societal dilemma. Intensifying it, as these problems remain present in the law.
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