WEBVTT - Selects: How Rape Kits Work 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:02.400 Hey, everybody, Happy Saturday. 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.120 Chuck here with the selects pick for the week, and 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.040 this week it's a pretty heavy on everyone. This is 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.480 about rape kits and the episode is how rape kits work. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.520 And this is from April second, twenty nineteen. And the 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.080 reason that I chose to select is because it's just 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:21.840 a super important topic about the funding of rape kits, 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.159 the lack of funding rather for rape kits, and the 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.800 backlog of processing rape kits. And it's something that should 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.680 be known far and wide. So that's why I picked 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:41.239 it for this week's episode. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:47.599 a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.280 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.120 Charles w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. And now 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.040 whatever chipperness you might hear, my voice can decline from 0:00:59.040 --> 0:00:59.640 here on out. 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:01.040 Yeah. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.680 Man, this this is another one of those that's uh 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.520 tough topic. It's not gonna be loaded with jokes. 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.160 No, I can't. I couldn't. I can't think of a 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.640 single one. And anytime like I started to be like, 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.119 oh maybe we should come with jokes, now, it's. 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.520 Not like we do that anyway, right, Like this would 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.800 be a good place for a joke. Let me get 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:21.720 our writers. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.080 On its joke here in brackets. 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:25.520 Yes obviously. Uh. 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:28.360 I mean if you saw the title about rape kits, 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.440 hopefully that is the trigger warning you need. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.160 But we might as well just say it out loud. 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:37.440 M h. Trigger warning for this one. That's all we 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:38.319 need to say, I think, right. 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.920 Pretty much. I mean we're talking about rape, sexual assault 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.600 in general, and specifically. I want to say, Chuck, I've 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.240 had on the list for a really long time rape 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.040 as a topic at I think it definitely deserves it, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.600 but it's I've just been kind of walking past it 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.360 every time I go down the list, you know, right, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.720 I think it's due, especially after this one. Yeah, but 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:01.880 it's it's almost like we needed to do this one first, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.840 or else it wouldn't be stuff you should know, right, 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:09.000 if we didn't do something tangential, bigger topic. Sure, we'll 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:10.160 do that eventually. Yeah. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.840 And also this comes out this is one of those 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.280 happenstance things. As I was researching and reading this stuff, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:19.480 I was like, oh, you know what we should check 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.560 and see when Sexual Assault Awareness Month is? 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:24.440 And it turned out it's April. 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.880 And it turned out that April second, the day that 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:33.120 this drops is Day of Action, so they encourage people 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.680 to wear teal on April second, which is today. 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.480 I'm wearing Well it's a mint green, but it's awfully 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:41.200 close to teal. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:42.919 Yeah, it's weird how this is all coming together. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.280 Like, yes, so you know, Action Day should be for 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:50.320 Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It should be like a purge, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:52.720 like the Merge. Yeah, that's what it should. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:53.720 I haven't seen the movie, but. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.560 I guess yeah, I haven't either, but I know the premise. 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.760 And that Sexual Assault Awareness Month is carried out by 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.480 in SVRC dot org, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.320 And also I know that we're doing a lot of 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.400 precursoring here, but there is one section here on what 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:18.960 to do if you've been sexually assaulted. Two dudes explaining this, 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.360 like just do this, Like we're not taking it that likely, 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.400 you know, Like we know that it is extremely difficult 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.919 to do anything much less like follow all the exact steps. 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:35.880 So many sexual assaults and rapes get unreported for a 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:40.160 thousand reasons. So we're not taking this lightly. But this 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.600 is our job, this is what we do, and this 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.880 is an important topic, so sure, please excuse two dudes 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.160 explaining a section on what to do when you're sexually assaulted. 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.360 But I think that also raises another point that I 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.640 want to touch on to Chuck. Sexual assault doesn't just 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.640 happen to women. Sure, it happens to men. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:56.040 Yeah. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.960 The trans community is also a big target for sexual assault, unfortunately. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.160 So while it is largely women and from what I've 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.880 seen women between eighteen and thirty five, it hits all 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:16.120 demographics and targets across the spectrum of human beings, including men. Yeah, 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:17.719 so I wanted to say that as well. 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.600 All right, now on with the show. So should we 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:23.599 do the history part first? 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:25.600 I think I was thinking, so I think we should 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.040 say what a rape kit actually is. 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.440 Oh, that's something we always do wrong. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.520 We're doing it right though we've hit everything right so far. 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:37.720 I think I think a rape kit, and I'm so 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.040 sorry everybody to keep saying rape kit. They're also called 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.000 sexual assault evidence collection kits. You can understand why people 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.240 call them rape kits. But from here on out, maybe 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:52.599 we'll just try to say kit. Sure, they are really 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:57.039 simply a box. I saw a shoebox size, Ed says, 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.240 microwave oven size. 0:04:59.000 --> 0:04:59.920 Just depends on the oven. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.440 A big old box. Yeah, and inside this box is 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.440 a all the stuff you need to collect the evidence 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:08.640 of a sexual assault. 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.479 Yeah, that a professional uses. It's not like a home thing. 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.640 No, but it does include such thorough, step by step 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.280 directions that someone who's not specifically trained to do this 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:24.720 can can can carry out this kind of examination. 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.000 I wonder one does this, Like, can you buy these 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.839 and perform this at home? Is you're too A thousand 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.120 reasons why you wouldn't go into a hospital. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.800 I think that you you can. You can buy them 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.839 from medical supply or law enforcement supply places. Both of 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.360 them sell kits, and they're actually relatively cheap. I saw 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:51.680 between five fifteen twenty five bucks, So yeah, you totally could. 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.040 It will still edit probably not. The defense would just 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:56.800 shoot holes in it all day long, and the jury 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:57.960 would be like, I'm sorry. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:58.880 Which they're already looking to do. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.359 Part of the of the process of collecting this evidence 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:06.480 and combining it all together to create this kit is 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.039 it begins a chain of custody. And if you do 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.680 it at home and then bring it in and they're 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:12.680 going to be like, come on. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.360 Right, And there are a lot of problems with the 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.520 chain of custody that we're obviously going to cover as 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.359 well when you leave it to the professionals. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:21.960 Right, it's just a big mess. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.120 But it is a big mess. But it's still more 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.800 often than not, it seems to be. It seems to 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.920 have been a good invention, sure, and that is a thing. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.800 It is an invention, and it wasn't always around. It's 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.800 actually a relatively new invention. It wasn't until I think 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.920 nineteen seventy eight that the first ones actually came into 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.160 official use by the I believe the police department in 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.359 Chicago and then later on Illinois, which served as a 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.800 bit of a laboratory for it. And it was so 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.520 successful that within another year it sorted to spread around 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:54.120 the country. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.400 Yeah, and just I mean it sounds like it's hard 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:02.320 to believe, but just collecting uh and having the tools 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.880 in a box and collecting the evidence and putting it 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:09.240 in a box for storage, just that alone coming around 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:15.440 went a long way toward helping victims be taken seriously. 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.520 Yeah, legitimizing rape and sexual assault. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.160 Yeah, I mean, it's sad, but that's that's the case. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.960 When they were first brought out, they were called vitulo kits, 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:24.920 in a lot of circles. 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.320 Be it t U, l l O and Louis or Lewis. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:29.880 I never know. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.600 I'm thinking since season Chicago Lewis Louis. 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.800 I thought you were going to say Louis because Chicago. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.080 I think it'd be I E. If it were in 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:40.120 Chicago Louis. 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:41.520 All right, well we'll go with Lewis. 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.600 Let's just call him Chicago lou Chicago Loudulo. Now he 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.920 sounds like a mobster, Yeah, Chicago Louviadula. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.240 I think the vitula is really not helping. 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.400 No, but he was not a mobster. He was actually 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.440 worked in the Chicago PDS forensic crime lab. He was 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:02.200 a sergeant and lieutenant who did not invent the rape kit, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.720 but he was charged with sort of codifying it and 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.000 putting his stamp because he was one of the first 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.440 people in law enforcement that was trying to create a 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:12.680 standardized procedure. 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.680 Yeah, he was already a very well respected forensic investigator, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.080 and so for him to say, hey, I'm a big 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:25.120 city forensic investigator, widely respected, and this thing is the bomb. Yeah, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.760 this is a great invention. We should all start using it. 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:31.560 And here's how it really helped spread and give it 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.520 a boost early on. But even though they were called 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:39.120 Vitulo kits, it's not to say like he was like, yeah, 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:44.600 I invented this colin. I think he was just known 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.840 in the mind of other law enforcement agents that they 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.160 associated him in these kits. So that's what everybody else 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.760 called it. But really, if you want to nail down 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.360 an inventor of the rape kit, it was a woman 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.040 named Martha Marty Goddard. 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.400 Yeah, Goddard and Btula. I read some interviews with his grandkids, 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:07.839 and it's like a really proud legacy. They still get 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:12.920 letters from people from women. Goddard as she has unplugged, 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.240 Like I saw one interview with her where they talked 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.200 about and we're going to cover this heavily later. But 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.360 the the kit backlog, she didn't even know about it 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.000 because she's like no TV, no internet, no newspapers. She 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.280 really just sort of checked out right, and she was like, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:29.840 that's really sad to hear about that. 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.040 It is very sad. So I saw a quote somewhere 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.080 that I think is Betula's grandkids said that he would 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.199 be spinning as grave if you knew about this backlog, 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:40.160 which we'll get to later. 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:45.840 So Goddard was a survivor of sexual assault and she 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.760 got together with some other victims. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:50.920 Basically, the writing was. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.000 On the wall like that, you know, things weren't being 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.079 taken seriously in many police departments. 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.120 Yes, she saw firsthand that like that, that they weren't 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.280 collecting evidence correctly, that they weren't they weren't taking it seriously, 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.199 which is still a huge problem, and she's she decided 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:06.240 to do something about it. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.160 Well, the first questions, and still in a lot of areas, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.840 probably the first questions still are like, well, what was 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.480 the situation, And if it starts with well I met 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.880 a guy at a bar, then you're sort of discounted, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:19.000 like out of the gate. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.320 Very sad and very unfair. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.199 But she formed a group called Citizens for Victims Assistants 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.320 in the nineteen seventies and went to work. Like she said, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:36.640 she was doing sixteen hour days visiting hospitals, talking to cops, 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:41.680 going to police stations, lawyers, judges, basically learning and working 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.839 on everyone she could about how to get a better 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:49.240 system going. But she needed money and she got that from, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.839 of all places, the Playboy Foundation. 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.200 Yeah, Hugh Hefner's foundation, his daughter Christy was friends with 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:00.440 Marty Goddard, and I think Playboy gave her ten which 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.360 is equal to about forty two grand in today's money. Yeah, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.080 and that was enough to go start assembling these kits 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.040 because one of the points from the outset of these 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:15.360 kits was that they be inexpensive because hospital they wanted 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.000 to remove as many barriers as possible for hospitals to 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:22.040 start implementing very smart widely. And one really easy way 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.160 to do it was to say, here, these are virtually free, 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.199 or in some cases, these are free because this community 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.000 group raised a bunch of money to purchase the implements 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.119 of these kits, put them all together, and now here 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.040 you just use them, that's all. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.240 Which is a success story in and of itself when 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.160 you know how like big Farmer works in the medical 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.559 community in America, Like I could have seen this being like, well, 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.400 these swabs and envelopes and combs, this will be seven 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.160 thousand dollars right per kit. Yeah, it's because we put 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:52.240 it all on a box for you. 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.200 Marty godd had gotten the way of that from the 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.560 outset and still to this day. I mean, that's why 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.000 they're not any more than five to twenty five dollars year, 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.800 even from like a medical supplier. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:02.760 Yeah, amazing. 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.480 Yeah, she's a hashtag hero. 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.320 Are we doing that now? Uh huh? Hashtag in it? Yeah, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.840 relate to the game, my friend as always. 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.280 Have you heard about this hashtag thing? Sure, you got 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:19.600 to go keep your two fingers on each hand hashtag Okay. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.320 See, I knew you'd get a funny in there. 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.840 So they were developed before DNA evidence was even around. 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.600 So this was back when it was just like hair 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.360 and fiber fingernails, stuff like that. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:33.160 Still very valuable. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.080 And I think one of the kits that's sort of 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.880 common these days is what's known as the Southwestern Sexual 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.280 Assault Evidence Collection Kit. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.800 It's like the gold standard, I guess so. 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.960 And it's called the Southwestern Obviously it was in Texas. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:52.560 The Attorney General's office there in nineteen ninety eight kind 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:56.240 of created this one. And that's sort of, like you said, 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.320 the one that people look to or base theirs on. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.839 Yeah, because I mean there they took the groundwork that 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.240 Marty Goddard came up with, going from to all of 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.240 what you'd call in the corporate world and buzz speak, 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:12.400 all the stakeholders in the process of apprehending and convicting 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:19.160 people who are who sexually assault other people, you know, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.680 scumbags you can say, monsters, Yeah, monsters. And she figured 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.440 out exactly how to put this together and laid the groundwork. 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.440 And then from what I understand, in the late nineties, 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.160 the Texas the Texas Attorney General's office said let's let's 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.040 let's purifize us. Let's let's make it even better, like 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.439 using what we know. And then that's what's in use 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.600 largely today. Although you're going to find different kids, there's 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.679 no there's no actual centre. Its a de facto standard, right. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:50.320 And and in the same point, different hospitals you go to, 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.400 even in the same state, are going to follow slightly 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.719 different procedures. They might use slightly different kits. But some 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.880 some states have said, no, this is important enough, like 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.720 here's how you do this. Here is the law of 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.160 how you conduct a rape kit examination. 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:05.040 Yeah. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.960 And so Goddard and Viatullo, you know, his stamp of approval, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.720 her working hard to get these things, you know, built 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.720 from the ground up. The work that they did together 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.680 was like really set the standard in the late seventies 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:23.080 for this across the country, just becoming just more a 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:27.640 more normalized way to collect evidence and take it more seriously. 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:29.400 Right, it was a big, big deal, big one. 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:33.040 Yeah, not just literally having you know, all of the 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.000 implements you need to conduct this investigation, but just the 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:41.600 very presence of these sexual assault evidence collection hits, the 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.880 fact that they exist, says law enforcements, saying, Okay, yeah, 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.160 this is a bigger deal than we've been treating it. Right, 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.120 you want to take a break, Yeah, let's do it. 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:50.800 We're going to take a break everybody. I don't know 0:14:50.840 --> 0:15:17.760 if you just heard, but won't be right back. It's stuffish, 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.240 all right, chuck. So the very reason that these kids 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.600 exist is because sexual assault is a very unique kind 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:32.040 of crime in that the victim, the body of the victim, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:37.080 is a crime scene, a walking, talking crime scene. I mean, 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.960 like if you're murdered or something, and like your body 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.440 is dumped somewhere, your body is still a crime scene, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.760 but you're walking around, moving. You can actually contaminate the 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.280 very crime scene from your assault just by doing things 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.880 that any normal human being would want to do after 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:58.680 being sexually assaulted. It's, in that sense, a very unique 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.560 kind of kind of crime scene. And that's what sexual 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.960 assault evidence collection kids are for is to step by step, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:12.640 methodically systematically collect that evidence and preserve it so that 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.800 it can later be analyzed and using court. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.680 Yeah, so these are the recommended steps if you've been 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.600 a victim. And like I said, there are a thousand 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.640 reasons that you would not want to do any and 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.040 all of these things, and we totally get that. But 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:30.720 and I think Ed puts it in a really good 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.160 way in this article. He said, to receive the best 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.680 possible care just medically for yourself and to have the 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.240 best chances of collecting good evidence, it needs to be 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.160 within a twenty four hour window ideally critical. 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.720 The twenty four is critical, and then apparently up to 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.560 three days it's still viable. But after three days most 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:51.760 experts like it's not going to get any as. 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.800 Far as DNA, which is the real, you know, really 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.320 what you're looking for. You will be very upset, and 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:02.240 you may be in literal shock, You may have had 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.680 one or more panic attacks. All of these things make 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.320 it very difficult to carry out like logical steps. But 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.840 experts say that the first thing you want to do, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.280 obviously is get some more safe as soon as you 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.280 can get away. If your attacker is around, and try 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.200 and find someone you know an advocate for you, whether 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.320 it's a friend or a family member who can kind 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.320 of be with you in the first you know, hours 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.080 after this this horrific event has happened, go to the 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:38.520 emergency room, even if you're not injured quote unquote physically, 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.679 like you really should go to the emergency room as 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:42.320 soon as you can. 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.520 This is a big one, not just because the emergency 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.000 room is where you're going to have this kid administered, 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:56.480 but also because it takes such tremendous reserve to draw 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.040 in such tremendous reserves to take yourself out of the 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.520 comfort and safety of your home, which is probably where 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.080 you went to not take a shower, which is another 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.119 huge step too. And to just say I'm going to 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:13.040 go to the emergency room and undergo this procedure and 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.160 let a bunch of strangers poke them probably and tell 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.720 them about what just happened. That's the ideal of what 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:20.879 you're supposed to do. But if you look at it 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.639 in that respect, that's just such a that's such a 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.320 huge thing on top of what just happened, that that 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.480 this is required of you to catch the person who 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.160 just did it I mean from a from a bystanders perspective, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:35.760 it just makes you want to catch them even more. 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.080 You know that that's on top of the assault as well. 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.440 Yeah, because it's not like the trauma is over for you, 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.119 right and anyway it may never be. But go to 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:47.920 the er as soon as you can if it's not right, 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.639 if you if you go to sleep and wake up 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.240 the next day, you can go to the emergency room then, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.760 like it's just important that you go whenever you feel 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.600 like you can do so. And like you said, it's 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.720 probably the least intuitive thing you could imagine to not 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:11.000 want to shower and bathe yourself, but that that gets 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.680 rid of a lot of evidence, so's it's terrible. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:20.400 But they say please do not shower. Yeah, they say please. 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:22.960 Please the capital P. 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.879 If you you should keep the clothes you're wearing on 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.560 if you can. If understandably you can't or don't want 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.960 to save them, Yeah. 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:36.399 Put them in a bag and take them to the 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:37.080 er with you. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.000 Yeah, if you have the wherewithal to change clothes. And 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.119 this is something that they will have you do in 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.880 the hospital, have you stand over like like butcher paper 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.560 or maybe even a towel. If you have the wherewithal 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.680 to do that wherever you are, whether it's at home 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.199 or in a hotel or someplace. Put that in there too, 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.199 because when you're changing your clothes, that's when you know 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.840 DNA evidence can can fall out, whether it's a hair 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.800 or whatever, and in particles. Right, just collect everything you 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.480 can and put it in a bag. Certainly, do not 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.200 wash those clothes, and then take those with you to. 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:10.960 The emergency room. 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:14.040 Yeah, and then the last thing you should know, just 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.800 because you're going to an emergency room, and even if 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:21.680 you are tested with this forensic kit, you're not required 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:22.879 to file a police report. 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:23.200 Ever. 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:24.400 That's a big one, but. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.359 Especially right away, it's not like they're going to have 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.879 a cop in there grilling you. You can file this 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:31.720 police report whenever you want to. 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.160 Yeah, If you are not comfortable filing a police report 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.359 right then you can do what's called a Jane Doe 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:42.679 or imagine a John Doe examination, where they just go 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:44.800 through all the steps and collect all the evidence, but 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.359 you never see a cop. They don't call the police 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.359 until after you've left. So that's a big one for 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.200 a lot of people. Sure, the ED points out though 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.920 in some states there is still a statute of limitations 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.520 of between ten and twenty one years, although some states 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.240 have removed the statute of limitations for a felony sexual assault. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:09.919 But there can be a clock ticking. But we're talking 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.840 ten years at the least, right, Yeah, for sure. So yeah, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:15.960 you don't have to. This isn't something you have to 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.760 knock out that day if you don't want to, if 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.480 you're not ready to. When you go to the er 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:28.719 for this kind of examination, you are signing up for 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.320 a few hours. It's going to take a few hours. 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:34.000 It's not a quick procedure. And there's something else that 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.480 you should know that I really hope won't discourage you, 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:38.880 but you should go into it knowing it is a 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.120