Comment by patrickmay | Hacker News Reader

Comment by patrickmay | Hacker News Reader

"In 2009, a Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney noticed thousands of rape kits stacked on the shelves of a Detroit Police Department storage facility. The kits are used to collect and store DNA evidence obtained from sexual assault survivors. These particular kits had been in storage for up to 30 years, and their contents had never been processed or properly investigated."

This is appalling. One would expect solving rape and murder to be the highest priority for the police.

A quick Google shows that in 2013 there were over 3000 arrests for marijuana possession in the same county. The resources used to make those arrests could have been used instead to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators identified by those rape kits. Victims of violent crime are now also victims of the war on drugs.

> The resources used to make those arrests could have been used instead to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators identified by those rape kits.

In theory, yes. In practice, no, they couldn't, because police officers aren't generally qualified to be processing and/or investigating rape kits.

We can't even say that they should have hired fewer officers and spent the money on people qualified to investigate these cases instead, because the LEO unions ensure that those cops stay employed (and also explicitly lobby for drug criminalization so that those officers have work to do).

EDIT clarified "criminalization" wording

Do you mean lobby for drug criminalization?

Lobby against drug decriminalization, since it is already criminalized.

We're talking about a city where 911 calls cannot reliably expect to get timely responses. Given that immediate need situations don't have good coverage, one should not be surprised that <insert other thing here> is not handled particularly well.

Rather cynically, a marijuana possession charge is probably a lot easier to stick than a rape charge. Caught the suspect with MJ in possession = open and shut case, no expensive tests or investigation necessary, not much possibility of a defense. In the case of rape, proving beyond reasonable doubt that the suspect is the right person and that the sex really was non-consentual, if the suspect fights it, could be much tougher and more expensive. It isn't too hard to believe that the legal system would rather take the easier case than the more serious crime.

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