"Rape Victims Forced to Pay for Evidence"

[ceile]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/19400415/detail.html#

I am truly disgusted. And I think this line says it all:
"He said state law is clear that crime victims must exhaust all other potential funding sources, such as local police or their own health insurance.

"The legislature set it up that way," said Strickland.

Their own health insurance? In the state with the most uninsured people? How many of those are women and sinlge mothers? And have the police pay for it out of their budgets?! Really come on!!

Alright people-what can we do to fix this? Flood Abbott's office with calls? I'm sorry, but I am so pissed off right now! These women go through enough and now they may have their creidt ruined?!

On edit: Please read some of the comments. Really frustrating...

[sonias]

1. Oh hell this is friggin unbelievable

And we thought only Palin's county was charging victims for rape kits! :grr:

I'm glad this is getting some coverage. Any Houston area DUers might want to contact your State Representatives on this issue. This might be something that Ellen Cohen specifically would be interesting in addressing.


Sonia

[WolverineDG]

2. It's not just Texas either

but of course, we got singled-out for "special handling" on DU. :eyes:

and I'm :grr: :nuke: over this. Don't expect Greg Abbot to do a damn thing.

dg

[Baby Snooks]

6. No it's not...

The National Center for Victims of Crime has known about the problem for some time. And like all advocacy centers, wants to remain politically correct. And not bite the hand that feeds it.

It is a disgrace. We cannot do much about Congress. But we can do something about our Texas legislature. And we have legislators fully aware of it who have done absolutely nothing to correct it. Ellen Cohen in particular who was director of Houston Area Women's Center was fully aware of it. And yet has done absolutely nothing to address it. And neither did anyone else. Including Senfronia Thompson.

How much of the "titty bar tax" was designated to cover the costs of the rape kits? Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

The money is meant to go to advocacy organizations so there is more money to hire more staff to talk about problems. And do absolutely nothing about them. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

I was told a year ago the AG's Office covered the cost when I asked what the Victims Assistance Fund covered. It may even be in what they provide to applicants. Obviously they do not. Despite the fact they are apparently supposed to under provisions of the Violence Against Women Act. I say apparently because at this point VAWA has so many loopholes it should be called the Swiss Cheese Act.

It is possible some assumed the AG's Office covered the cost if not the counties themselves. But they had to have known about the problem in general. They could have at least asked if it was a problem in Texas. It will be interesting to see what,if anything, they have to say about this. They had to have known about the problem. I knew. I just didn't realize it was a problem here in Texas. But then I'm not head of an advocacy organization. In which case I should have known.

No one is really clear about who should be covering the cost. Some counties apparently do cover it. Some do not. I suspect most do not. But that gets to the matter of these advocacy organizations and their directors not listening to the screeching voices at the other end of the brief conversations. Brief because often the screeching voice is hung up on and dismissed as a lunatic. Dealing with the system including the advocacy organizations usually does produce a lunatic. Which they might think about. But never do. Too easy to just dismiss them as lunatics.

Bang the pots and pans. But at the moment don't bother banging them at the legislature. Bang them at the AG's Office. Time for someone to demand an accounting of where the VAWA funding for the Victims Assistance Fund has gone.

[Baby Snooks]

8. A year ago...

http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-and-money/2008/02/21/rape-victims-can-be-hurt-financially-too.html

This was a year ago. And a year later, here we are in Texas. Same problem. Same response. It's not a problem. It IS a problem.

[sonias]

11. Here is the start of a Texas bashing thread in GD

Texas is charging rape victims who cooperate with the police

Must be Texas hating day on DU - No that would be everyday. :grr:

Happy Mother's Day.

Sonia

[onestepforward]

3. I will be contacting mine... again

I noticed a comment asking why the doesn't the rapist have to pay for it? Good question. This is not acceptable.

[Aragorn]

4. AG

I would like to comment specifically on what appears to be political prosecution (attempt only, so far) by AG agents in a specific case. I doubt if the AG hisself even knows about it yet.

In this case (this post) there is still some failure to even collect evidence in such cases, even though a lot of this was pioneered at Parkland (Dallas). But rural Tx is not the same, in resources for sure.

I do not think alleged rapists should pay for anything. Too many false accusations and false convictions in Texas.

[WolverineDG]

5. What about the guilty ones?

Or do you think rape victims should just lie back & enjoy it & be glad some "man" wants to have sex with them?

:nuke:

dg

[Baby Snooks]

7. Well that's part of the problem as well....

I'm a member of a prosecutors forum and the subject of "attitude" comes up a lot. And the attitude is that we still have "bubbas" who take the "he said, she said" attitude. They are "he" themselves so of course what "he" says carries more weight. And so of course that produces what is probably another attitude of "well, she says she was raped, he says it was consensual and we haven't determined that she was raped so why should we pay for evidence gathering if we determine she wasn't?"

Read that several times to understand what I am conveying. They don't want to have the evidence in many cases. They want to not have the evidence. Particularly when the rapist is a friend or a family member of a campaign contributor.

Bubbas. What made this country great.

[sonias]

14. "Bubbas. What made this country great."

That was sarcasm, right?


Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

16. Actually it was a reflection of a sad reality...

This country is still ruled by bubbas and they believe chattel law is still the law of the land. Everything belongs to them. To do with as they please. Quite a few prosecutors find themselves faced with a bubba district attorney who decides a rape wasn't a rape. Sometimes it's just a matter of the boys, the bubbas, having a little fun. Why the woman asked for it. She should have been wearing a bra. She as much as asked them to rape her. If it was rape, well, it was consensual rape. So of course the prosecutor is told there is nothing to prosecute. Nothing worse than a bubba for a district attorney. And Texas unfortunately is filled with them. But they're everywhere. In all 50 states.

The bubbas did make this country great. For the other bubbas.

[onestepforward]

9. I agree, there are too many false accusations,

but the rape victim should not have to pay for it either. It should be paid for like any other crime scene investigation supplies are paid for. It does seem at times that women often get the short end of the stick, even when crimes committed against them.

[cosmik debris]

10. Is there any other crime where the victim is asked to pay for police work?

When this goes to criminal court it is THE STATE OF TEXAS vs. THE ACCUSED, not The Victim vs. The Accused. The State has the obligation to prosecute the crime and an obligation to gather the evidence. How can this possibly survive judicial review?

[sonias]

12. That was the same point I made on the GD thread

The police department has to collect evidence of the crime. Why on earth would it shift the burden to the victim?

In a robbery would the police ask the person who got robbed to pay for dusting for fingerprints type of evidence collection?

Would they ask the family of a murder victim to pay for the autopsy on the deceased?

This is a horrible practice.

Now we find out on the Texas bashing thread in GD, that Texas and Alaska are not the only states that practice in this stupidity. Apparently other states do too.

That's what we need to focus on - getting this barbaric practice stopped. A federal law if need be.

Texas is charging rape victims who cooperate with the police

Just put the word "Texas" in an OP and you are guaranteed to make it to the greatest page. It's a quick way to bring the DU Texas haters to pile on.
:grr:

Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

13. Why?

"Why on earth would it shift the burden to the victim?"

Apparently just because they can. Apparently the legislature added amendments to various statutes that allows them to.

Apparently a lot of people should have banged the pots and pans over this. And not just in Texas. Most of them advocates.

Texas is not alone. But Texas is still Texas. And it is becoming very "victim-unfriendly" in many respects.

Texas for instance seems to be leading the way in turning stalking into a form of domestic abuse/violence. According to several statutes passed by the legislature, one approved by the voters, if you aren't living with them, you aren't being stalked.

Stalking in fact begins when you are no longer living with them. But trying to explain that to our legislature is like trying to explain anything to our legislature. A total waste of time.

For those who might want to pursue this further they can contact Legal Momentum in New York and voice their outrage. They originally were the legal arm of NOW and about the only organization left that remembers what the term public advocacy means.

www.legalmomentum.org

They intervened last year in a discrimination case involving the Houston Fire Department.

[sonias]

15. Good tip

I didn't know Legal Momentum existed.

Sounds like we need a branch of this in every state.

Sonia

[cosmik debris]

18. Next question...

How does it survive judicial review? How can that be "Equal Protection"?

[Baby Snooks]

19. Judicial review?

I don't know that there is any "judicial review" although you are allowed "administrative review" with regard to a denial of assistance.

[cosmik debris]

21. I'm talking about constitutionality

It clearly doesn't give women equal protection under the law since women are the only ones required to pay for evidence gathering.

It also seems like an abrogation of the state's responsibility to investigate crimes. Prosecutors are officers of the court and a judge should be able to order them to do their duty and gather the evidence.

I assume that the medical facility required someone to sign a "financial responsibility" form and "consent to treat" before any procedure was performed. What if the victim was unable or unwiling to sign the form? Will the evidence not be gathered? In that case, the state would have to pay. Why should they be absolved from that duty just because the victim survived?

It seems to me that the court has an obvious remedy. It is the state's duty and the state can't force that duty onto the victim. Especially in a discriminatory manner.

[Baby Snooks]

22. I'm talking about it too..

In case you haven't noticed, Gregg Abbott doesn't care about the Constitution and isn't going to care about it unless a court tells him to. That's the Texas Republican way. And even then they will sometimes ignore the court. Which he probably will. Texas, you know, is a sovereign state. So it decides which federal laws apply and which don't.

As for this case and many others, I don't see anyone having offered to take the matter to court. Mustn't rock the boat. No names but it should be obvious. Advocates in Texas are advocates up to a point. That point is where they might rock the boat.

Maybe Legal Momentum will do something. Maybe it won't. Whoever has had to pay for the kits needs to contact them.

[sonias]

17. CNN news clip & related story on Huffington Post

You Tube[br />In this news clip Abbott's office actually defends refusing to pay saying the victims fund only pays if the police department and insurance company both say no. And that if they didn't adhere to strict pay out criteria the fund would be insolvent. What an ass! :grr:

Huffington Post article 5/11/09
How Can Texas Ask Women to Pay for Rape Kits?

(snip)
Has the state's attorney general lost his mind? Do these penny-pinching bureaucrats have no decency, no shame at all?

The U.S. Violence Against Women Act] requires states to pay for "Jane Doe rape kits," also known as anonymous rape tests, if they want to receive funding for other programs.

But Gov. Rick Perry and his tea bagging followers like to demagogue their opposition to federal programs and make media events out of refusing the federal money that comes with them.

So why are we surprised when a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott defends the letters, saying the state's Crime Victim's Compensation Fund, which collected nearly $100 million in 2007, would go broke if Abbott didn't follow strict criteria set by the legislature?

The Huffington Post story had good information I didn't know - i.e. that states have to pay for the kits if they receive funding for other programs. So is Texas breaking the federal law? I wonder what other programs the law applied to?

Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

20. And then...

If the involved law enforcement agency or the insurance company, I just love the thought of a rape victim sending in a claim for a rape kit to her insurance company, refuse to pay then most likely the AG's Office looks at the case and finds a reason not to pay. Was the rapist charged? Was the rapist actually prosecuted? Was the rapist convicted? Was the rapist ordered to pay restitution to the victim? The reality of the Victims Assistance Fund is it pays very little to very few. And goes out of its way not not to pay.

The Victims Assistance Funds which are disbursed through the Attorney General's Offices in all 50 states are funded with federal funds. Not all of the funding is from VAWA funding. There is also some Department of Justice funding as well. The funds are meant to assist all victims of all crime resulting in loss of income and medical expenses. For some reason the attorney general in Texas, and attorney generals in other states, believe the federal law doesn't apply once the federal funds are deposited.

As for the rape kits, they are supposed to be paid for. According to federal law. But this is Texas. And the Republicans pick and choose which laws they like and which laws they don't like.

[Baby Snooks]

24. If they don't cover the cost, yes...

The problem is that all that happens is the state loses the VAWA funding so obviously advocates are worried that if they speak out too loudly, they may lose the funding.

They could, and should, put pressure on national organizations such as Legal Momentum and National Center for Victims of Crime to address the problem for them and merely demand enforcement.

The sad reality is that all too often "disbursement policies" of federal funds is left to the discretion of the states. That is where the problem lies. The states do at times pass laws that at least in their view supercede federal law. That apparently is not the case here. The requirement is absolute. No funding of rape kits = no VAWA funding.

At least, as posted below, TAASA responded. No one else has.

[Baby Snooks]

23. TAASA Response

Recently a Houston television station ran a story about a rape victim who was billed for her own rape exam. The news piece implied this was a common practice in Texas despite being told by several sources, including the Deputy Director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA), that this was not the case. This news story, riddled with inaccuracies and half truths, was picked up by other news outlets and blogs and it took on a life of its own. Activists, advocates, survivors and other concerned individuals from around the country were justifiably angry and began to demand answers and action. The problem is there isn’t really a problem, just the perception of injustice that is spiraling out of control.

TAASA is concerned that this misinformation will have a chilling effect on a rape victim’s willingness to report the crime and get a forensic/medical exam (rape kit). We want to assure everyone that the cost of a forensic exam is not billed to the victim. This is always the responsibility of law enforcement and they in turn can be reimbursed for up to $700 though the Crime Victim’s Compensation (CVC) fund. If the cost exceeds this amount it is absorbed by the law enforcement agency or hospital, not the victim.

Additional medical treatment is not part of the forensic exam and billed separately. All crime victims, i.e. rape, gunshot, mugging, etc. are billed for medical treatment. They are eligible to apply for reimbursement of these costs through the CVC fund. The CVC fund is statutorily the “payer of last resort,” so if a victim has medical insurance it will be billed first. This is to assure the fiscal integrity of the CVC fund and make certain that funds remain available to crime victims who are uninsured or underinsured. Rape victims are not singled out in this process for reimbursement, it is consistently applied to all crime victims and this process is replicated with few variations across the country.

As with any system there is the possibility of human error. A victim could be misinformed or struggle to make sense of the process. This is the principle reason TAASA believes rape crisis advocates are so valuable to rape victims. Rape crisis advocates are not formally part of the systems or institutions that rape survivors must navigate, but are a valuable ally to victims when they encounter barriers or inconsistencies. I wish the rape victim in the Houston story had an advocate to help her through this very difficult time. Our only interest in this situation is that rape victims are supported and assisted. I encourage rape victims to access the services they so desperately need and not be deterred by the perception that they will be charged for their rape exam.

Respectfully Yours,


Annette Burrhus-Clay, Executive Director
Texas Association Against Sexual Assault

http://taasa.org/blog/?p=1024
__________________________________________________________________

If nothing else, advocates should know to call TAASA if there is a problem. Maybe there is, maybe there's not.

According to National Center for Victims of Crime a year ago, there is a problem. I doubt the problem was resolved in a year. But at least TAASA responded and at least acknowledges that "human error" does occur.

[sonias]

25. Thanks for that update

I do think it is important that victims not be further victimized by not reporting their crime.

This is especially crucial:

TAASA is concerned that this misinformation will have a chilling effect on a rape victim’s willingness to report the crime and get a forensic/medical exam (rape kit). We want to assure everyone that the cost of a forensic exam is not billed to the victim. This is always the responsibility of law enforcement and they in turn can be reimbursed for up to $700 though the Crime Victim’s Compensation (CVC) fund. If the cost exceeds this amount it is absorbed by the law enforcement agency or hospital, not the victim.

Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

26. There are still some questions...

Where there's smoke there's fire as they say and there's been smoke for awhile. The National Center for Victims of Crime first notified advocates of the problem in 2004. Hopefully someone will look further into this and not assume there isn't a problem. There is.

I really do wish someone would audit the disbursement of the VAWA funds. The best reason I can think of to ask for an audit is Greg Abbott.

If anyone is aware of a situation where a rape victim has been told they must pay for a rape kit, at least we know who they can call to report it.

[sonias]

27. Who would audit Greg Abbott?

I assume the authority would be up to the Lege but I don't think they have the will right now. Perry certainly won't question it.

I know we have an office of State Auditor but can they target a specific agency without a mandate by the Lege?


Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

28. Actually the Justice Department should...

But then the Justice Department should probably audit all of the victims assistance divisions of the state attorney generals offices but then the Justice Department won't because the Justice Department assumes all the state attorney generals are fully capable of "self-regulation."

Human nature is such that we are not capable of "self-regulation" which is why we have laws to begin with.