The Rape Kit’s Secret History

June 17, 2020 1:39 PM

The New York Times Opinion: The Rape Kit’s Secret History, by Pagan Kennedy. "This is the story of the woman who forced the police to start treating sexual assault like a crime." Her name was Marty Goddard.

"The rape-kit idea was presented to the public as a collaboration between the state attorney’s office and the police department, with men running both sides... and little credit given to the women who had pushed for reform. Ms. Goddard agreed to this [...] because she saw that it was the only way to make the rape kit happen."

posted by amf (12 comments total)

Thank you amf for posting this, and I'm grateful to Pagan Kennedy for writing and investigating it and to the Times for supporting what must have been a really lengthy reporting process (and thanks to Nicholas Konrad and Jessia Ma for their additional reporting).

I hope someone reading this piece says "hey I know Rudy Nimocks" and he can come forward to talk about his side of this story.

this part hurts my heart

This is such a heartbreaking piece. I'm grateful to Marty Goddard for the work that she did and for all the justice it continues to help us make.
posted by brainwane at 4:22 PM on June 17, 2020 [3 favorites]

Why does the NYT place this in the opinion section?

I suspect it's from how they ended the article with a heavy emphasis on their well thought out but point blank opinion, which is not strictly speaking how investigative journalism works. Great piece, though.
posted by waving at 4:23 PM on June 17, 2020

The idea that rape was not provable by evidence but only "he said, she said" opinion is baffling nowadays. I take a lot of current technology for granted. But nonetheless "he said, she said" and ultimately "he says" still rules the game unless very great pains are taken to get DNA, or even strikingly clear video. Marty was a flipping genius.
posted by waving at 4:42 PM on June 17, 2020

please add "rape" and "sexual assault" tags to this post so that survivors have the option of filtering this using my mefi.
posted by lazaruslong at 4:52 PM on June 17, 2020 [6 favorites]

Mod note: Done.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:52 PM on June 17, 2020 [6 favorites]

I found it very telling about how the rape kit would not have gotten done without a man getting the credit.

Sad to hear that she went downhill so hard.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:58 PM on June 17, 2020 [4 favorites]

Thank you for posting this! I read it earlier today alternating between fascination and rage (sometimes both at the same time).
posted by hilaryjade at 6:56 PM on June 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

It never occurred to me before this, but there doesn't seem to be an actual reason why the people who are supposed to investigate crime are lumped in with the people who are supposed to prevent it. If investigation was more of its own thing there wouldn't be an administrative conflict between analysing rape kits and putting police on the street. As it is, though, every rape kit analysed means $1,000 - $1,500 out of the police overtime budget.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:41 PM on June 17, 2020 [13 favorites]

In other words, the rape kit, with its official blue-and-white packaging and its stamps and seals, functioned as a theatrical prop as well as a scientific tool. The woman in the witness box, weeping as she recounted how her husband tried to kill her, could sound to a judge and jury like a greedy little opportunist. But then a crime-lab technician would take the stand and show them the ripped dress, the semen stains, the blood. When a scientist in a lab coat affirmed the story, it seemed true.

Just remember- 1993 was the year marital rape was outlawed. This is an amazing article- but also heartbreaking. Women are only believed when a man in a lab coat says so- and since rape kits are so often untested- they don't even have that. Good god.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:54 PM on June 17, 2020 [16 favorites]

Fascinating and sad. Marty Goddard is a hero.
posted by amanda at 6:30 AM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Just remember- 1993 was the year marital rape was outlawed.

That very much depends on where you are. Even assuming US, every state has its own statute with varying dates of implementation. Some types of marital rape are still legal in most states, such as rape after drugging one's spouse past the point of ability to consent or when the spouse is otherwise rendered unable to consent (by taking insomnia medication, for example) or when a husband is forced to penetrate. US rape and sexual assault laws are a mishmash of outdated understandings and expectations. Outside the US, in some places marital rape is not recognized at all by the law, or if it is, it may be all but impossible to get an arrest, prosecution, and conviction.

I archived this so folks like me who don't have access past the paywall can read the piece: http://archive.is/1i8ja
posted by notashroom at 8:21 PM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

The hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits sitting around in warehouses is especially nauseating in the context of The New Jim Crow and other studies of how our carceral state uses non-violent crimes like drug use, traffic violations, and petty theft to try to ruin the lives of black people. The police departments are too busy perpetuating white supremacy to fund and resource the investigation of these actual violent crimes.
posted by amaire at 12:15 PM on June 19, 2020 [3 favorites]