An Immoral, DIY Rape Kit Startup
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Furthermore, admissible only matters to a limited extent. It means someone won't go to jail based on this evidence alone. It doesn't mean it doesn't get considered at all. Even then, there's hacks, you could have someone from the company testify to the results of the kit and what the results mean, for example.
Using these kids deprives the government and public prosecutor of many options and places a lot of power with the individual. That weakens the case, but that may be a good trade for people. I'm not sure giving people extra options between keeping silent and going full-on nuclear with zero control and uncertain result (the government route) is such a bad thing.
I can also see why a person with this job (and the conviction that makes one take a job like this) would consider it a terrible thing.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/04/9727395/rape-kit-at...
A judge determines what's admissible in a court of law. That's why your texts, social media posts, etc are all admissable.
The companies in this space are not trying to fool anyone into not going into the hospital. They are trying to help serve the 80%+ of survivors that never go to the official system.
With these kits there is no way to validate that the evidence was actually collected from the victim and not from say a toothbrush.
Monica’s dress in this case is well the victims vagina or any other body part that was assaulted and may contain DNA evidence of the assailant not the kit.
At home rape kits is a recipe for disaster for rape victims and the legal system.
Chain of custody is about tracking evidence after it's received by the justice system.
Chain of custody is about tracking that evidence after the cop gets it, to audit/avoid tampering.
If you get assaulted, and you bring in soiled underwear in a paper bag, that is admissible in court.
The chain of custody starts when the cop puts that underwear in an evidence bag. Otherwise courts would never be able to admit ANY evidence brought forward by a victim.
With these kits there is no way to verify that the DNA swab came from rape victims body or someone’s toothbrush.
This is the problem with these kits, any use of such kit would require a forensic nurse observing the collection, and that each swab is sealed in an evidence tamper bag and then the chain of custody can be established from that point on.
This is no different than any other physical evidence it either needs to be collected from the scene or forensically proven to be connected to it if it was recovered later or by someone else, and in cases when it does the defense will and quite likely successfully get it thrown out.
From the same article you posted:
> Defense attorneys worry that allowing victims to conduct their own rape exams could result in cross-contamination and raise issues of reasonable doubt. “If you want to frame someone, it’s easy to get their DNA onto a swab where you do a sex assault kit, and say, ‘Oh, look, here’s their DNA,’” criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel told the AP. Since they first hit the market last year, there has been a push to ban DIY kits for reasons like this.
Also from the article you posted:
> Northern California has issued a temporary order allowing rape kits to be collected by the survivor, at home, while a nurse walks them through the process via video call
It appears this is temporary.
Founded by Mariska Hargitay of “Law and Order: SVU” fame.
If the two people who founded this startup were going to take your advice - how would they do it? Just send a check to crime labs all over the country and hope they process the kit? Start a letter writing campaign?
This is a policy and legal challenge, not a business.
Frankly, this sounds like typical Silicon Valley attitude applied totally inappropriately.
"Just get a minimum product out, we'll figure out how to make it work later, or pivot to another market."
That's fine if you're releasing the next todo list app. That's not fine if you're providing women rape kits that, for all intents and purposes a rape kit would be used for, are useless. This severely impacts people's lives at their absolute worst moments.
You might give them the benefit of the doubt if there was even a remotely feasible path for this to be useful without a major rework of the justice system in ways that would severely compromise it in several other aspects.
Given the seemingly insurmountable hurdles, it's hard to see this as anything but a way to exploit vulnerable or fearful women to their own detriment. Especially when they'd previously co-opted the MeToo movement for their branding while suggesting women stock up on these "prior to being assaulted".
Rape kits provide no useful information in these cases.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/diy-remote-rape...
The article you shared appears to conflict with what this startup is offering.
> It's being called a "temporary protocol" that so far, has only been used once on April 5. Nassoura said the process starts by the victim calling law enforcement and then, "The officer goes to the victim's residence, places it (the sexual assault test) on the front door step, waits in the vehicle. The victim then goes to the front door gets the sample and they begin a zoom video call." That zoom video call involves a forensic nurse, the detective and a victim advocate. Once the victim's statement is taken by the officer, the nurse is the only one that remains on the call. The victim then self-collects the sample under the nurse's guidance and direction.
And to your point:
> Moreover, further research will show you that the startup explicitly encourages survivors to visit a hospital or contact law enforcement if at all possible.
The problem is, this startup's business model specifically relies on victims not visiting the hospital.
> Ask sexual assault survivors what they would like to see instead.
They would probably want their evidence to be admitted in court, rather than raise reasonable doubt.
What ever temporary protocol California or any other state has put into place I can guarantee you that it involves the forensic nurse not only instructing the victim on how to use the kit but verifies that the victim collects samples only from themselves and that these samples are sealed in an tamper resilient bag/container by the victim in clear view of the nurse.
As in the nurse has to watch the victim swab their own vagina, anus, finger nails and any other body part that may have DNA evidence and place the swab in a bag and seal it.
The seal would then be inspected by law enforcement and the lab and the CoC would be documented and preserved.
At that point the amount of doubt is more or less identical to having consensual sex to gather DNA evidence and then falsely accusing someone of rape which can happen regardless of where the evidence collection takes place.
This is the part these kits cannot provide and this is why they cannot be admissible there is quite a big difference between having consensual sex to collect DNA evidence which is easier to prove and just being able to take a cotton swab to someone toothbrush or water bottle.
I read the title as there was a startup selling kits for DIY rape. Pretty immoral indeed. I was just wondering what's in the kit.