WEBVTT - How Rape Kits Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.720 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.400 There's Charles to w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.840 And now whatever chipperness you might hear, my voice can 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.840 decline from here on out. Yeah. Man, this this is 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.960 another one of those that's uh tough topic. It's not 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.960 gonna be loaded with jokes. No, I can't. I couldn't. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.360 I can't think of a single one. And anytime, like 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.120 I started to be like, oh, maybe we should come 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.879 with jokes. Now, that's not like we do that anyway, right, Like, 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.559 this would be a good place for a joke. Let 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:47.879 me get joke here in brackets? Yes, obviously. Uh. I 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.120 mean if you saw the title about rape kits, uh, 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.440 hopefully that is the trigger warning you need. But we 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.360 might as well just say it out loud. Trigger warning 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.720 for this one. That's all we need to say anything, 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.720 right pretty much. I mean, we're talking about rape, um, 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.400 sexual assault in general, and specifically. I want to say, Chuck, 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.400 I've had on the list for a really long time. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.560 Rape as a topic itself, I think it definitely deserves 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.840 it um, but it's I've just been kind of walking 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:18.600 past it every time I go down the list, you know. Uh, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.360 I think it's due, especially after this one. Yeah, but 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:23.600 it's almost like we needed to do this one first, 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:25.759 or else it wouldn't be stuff. You should know if 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.800 we didn't do something tangential, bigger topic. Right, we'll do 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.160 that eventually. Yeah. And also this comes out this is 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.880 one of those happenstance things. As I was researching and 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.600 reading this stuff, I was like, oh, you know what 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.759 we should check and see when, uh, Sexual Assault Awareness 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.520 Month is. And it turned out it's April. And it 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.400 turned out that April two, the day that this drops, uh, 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:55.080 is day of Action. So they encourage people to wear 0:01:55.160 --> 0:02:00.200 teal on April two, which is today. I'm almost I'm 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.640 wearing well it's mint green, but it's awfully close to 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.639 t Yeah. It's weird how this is all coming together 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.840 like this, so, um, you know action they should be 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.919 for sexualists all awareness month. It should be like a 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:15.240 purge like yeah, that's what you haven't seen the movie, 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.320 but I get yeah I haven't either, but I know 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.799 there uh and that um. Sexual Assault Awareness Month is 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.680 carried out by h N s v RC DOT org 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:29.120 the Natural National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Uh. And also 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.079 I know that we're doing a lot of uh precursoring here, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.360 but there is one section here on what to do 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:40.680 if you've been sexually assaulted. Um, two dudes explaining this, 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.040 like just do this, like, we're not taking it that likely, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:48.480 you know, like it. We know that it is extremely 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.760 difficult to do anything much less like follow all the 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.680 exact steps. Uh. So many sexual assaults and rapes get 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.840 unreported for a thousand reasons. So we're not taking this lightly. 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.400 But this is our job, this is what we do, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.120 and this is an important topic. So please excuse two 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.079 dudes explaining a section on what to do when you're 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.840 sexually assaulted. But I think that also raises another point 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.960 that I want to touch on too, Chuck, sexual assault 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.920 doesn't just happen to women. It happens to men. The 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.919 trans community is also a big target for sexual assault unfortunately. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.079 So while it is largely women from what I've seen 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.520 women between eighteen and thirty five, um, it hits all 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:35.480 demographics and targets across the across the spectrum of human beings, 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.440 including men. UM. So I wanted to say that as well. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.240 All Right, now on with the show. Uh, so should 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.120 we do the history part first? I think I was thinking, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.080 so I think we should say what a rape kit 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.280 actually is. Oh, that's something we always do wrong, but 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.200 we're doing it right though we've hit everything right so far. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:58.840 I think, Um, I think, uh, a rape kit. And 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:03.080 I'm so sorry everybody to keep saying rape kit. They're 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.240 also called sexual assault evidence collection kits. You can understand 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.560 why people call them rape kits, but from here on, 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.680 maybe we'll just try to say kit. Um. They they 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:18.359 are really simply a box. I saw shoebox size ED 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.720 says microwave oven size just depends on the oven. It's 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.120 a big old box, um. And inside this box is 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.159 a all the stuff you need to collect the evidence 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:33.039 of a sexual assault. YEA that a professional uses. It's 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.920 not like a home thing. No, but it does include 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.360 such thorough, step by step directions that someone who's not 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.960 specifically trained to do this can can um can can 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:48.800 can carry out this kind of examination? Does this like? 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.240 Can you buy these and perform this at home? If 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.160 you're too A thousand reasons why you wouldn't go into 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.839 a hospital. I think that, um, you you can? You 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:05.200 can buy them from medical supply or law enforcement supply places. 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.520 Both of them sell kits, and they're actually relatively cheap. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.800 I saw between five fifty bucks, UM, So yeah, you 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:17.320 totally could probably not. The defense would just shoot holes 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:18.919 in it all day long and the jury would be like, 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.000 I'm sorry. Which they're part of the part of the 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.240 process of collecting this evidence and combining it altogether to 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:31.080 create this This kit is it begins a chain of custody. 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:32.719 And if you do it at home and then bring 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.520 it in and they're going to be like, come on, right, 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.280 And there are a lot of problems with the chain 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.560 of custody that we're obviously going to cover as well 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.120 when you leave it to the professionals. It's just a 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.440 big mess. But it is a big mess. But but 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.800 it's still more often than not, it seems to be UM. 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.839 It seems to have been a good invention, and that 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.279 that is a thing. It is an invention, UM, And 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.159 it wasn't always around. It's actually a relatively new invention. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.200 It wasn't until I think that the first ones actually 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.400 came into official use by the I believe the police 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.800 department in Chicago and then later on Illinois, which served 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.159 as a bit of a laboratory for it, and it 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.640 was so successful that within another year it started to 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.240 spread around the country. Yeah, and just I mean it 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.760 sounds like it's hard to believe, but just collecting uh 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.480 and having the tools in a box and collecting the 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.240 evidence and putting it in a box for storage, just 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:34.240 that alone coming around went a long way toward UM 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:40.159 helping victims be taken seriously legitimizing rape and sexual assault. Yeah. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.240 I mean, it's sad, but that's that's the case. UM. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.800 When they were first brought out, they were called the 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:46.960 two low kits in a lot of circles B I 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.000 t U, L l O UH and Louis or Louis. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:55.279 I never know. I'm thinking since season Chicago Lewis Lewis. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.960 I thought you were gonna say Louis because Chicago. I 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.800 think it'd be I E if it were in Chicago Louis. 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:03.800 All right, well we'll go with Louis. Let's just call 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.760 him Chicago lou Chicago Louadulo. Now he sounds like a 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:12.200 mobster Chicago Louvadulo. I think the vitulo is really not helping, No, 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.920 But he was not a mobster He was actually worked 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.600 in the Chicago PDS forensic crime lab. He was a 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.400 UM sergeant and lieutenant who, uh did not invent the 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.160 rape kit, but he was charged with sort of codifying 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.240 it and putting his stamp because he was one of 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.640 the first people in law enforcement that was trying to 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.000 create a standardized procedure. Yeah, he was already a very 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:41.000 well respected forensic investigator, and so for him to say, hey, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.280 I'm a big city forensic investigator, widely respected, and this 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.440 thing is the bomb. This is a great invention. We 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:51.200 should all start using it. And here's how it really 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.360 helped spread uh and give it a boost early on. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.920 But even though they were called vitulo kits um, there's there. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.800 It's it's not to say like he was like, yeah, 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:06.280 I invented this. I think he was just um known 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.360 in the mind of other law enforcement agents that like 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.000 they associated him in in these kids. UM. So that's 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.440 what everybody else called it. But really, if you want 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.400 to nail down an inventor of the rape kid, it 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:23.640 was a woman named um Martha Marty Goddard. Yeah, Goddard 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.720 and but Tula read some interviews with his grandkids and 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.920 it's like a really proud legacy. They still get letters 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:35.839 from people from women. Um Goddards, she has unplugged. Like uh, 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.160 I saw one interview with her where they talked about 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.440 and we're going to cover this heavily later, but the 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.920 um the kit backlog, Um, she didn't even know about 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.160 it because she's like no TV, no internet, no newspapers. 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.000 She really just sort of checked out. And she was like, 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.720 that's really sad to hear about that. It is very sad. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.880 So I saw a quote somewhere that um, I think 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.240 is Vitula's grandkids said that that he would be spinning 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.120 in his grave if you knew about this backlog, which 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:05.080 we'll get too later. Um. So Goddard was a survivor 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:10.440 of sexual assault and she got together with some other victims. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.920 Basically the riding was on the wall like that, you know, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.960 things weren't being taken seriously in many police departments. Yea. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.200 She saw firsthand that like that, that they weren't collecting 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.000 evidence correctly, that they weren't they weren't taking it seriously, 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.160 which is still a huge problem. Um. And she she 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.000 decided to do something about it. Well, the first questions 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:31.480 and still in a lot of areas. Probably the first 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.760 question still are like, well, what was the situation? And 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.480 if it starts with while I met a guy at 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.319 a bar, then you're sort of discounted, like out of 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.280 the gate um. Very very sad and very unfair. But 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.800 she formed a group called Citizens for Victims Assistants in 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:53.000 the nineteen seventies and went to work, Like she said, 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:57.760 she was doing sixteen hour days um visiting hospitals, talking 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:02.640 to cops, going to police stations, lawyers, judges, basically learning 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.120 and working on everyone she could about how to get 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.000 a better system going. But she needed money and she 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.520 got that from, of all places, the Playboy Foundation. Yeah, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.720 Hugh Heffner's foundation, his daughter Christie was friends with Marty Goddard, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.120 and um, I think Playboy gave her ten grand, which 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.640 is equal to about forty two grain in today's money. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.760 And that was enough to go start assembling these kits 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.520 because one of the um points from the outset of 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:36.320 these these kits was that they be inexpensive because hospital 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.440 they did, they wanted to remove as many barriers as 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.400 possible for hospitals to start implementing the widely. And one 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:44.600 one really easy way to do it was to say 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.000 here these are virtually free or in some cases these 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.880 are free because this community group raised a bunch of 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.800 money to purchase the implements of these kits, put them 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.000 all together, and now here you're you just use them, 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.680 that's all, which is a success story in and of itself. 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.840 When know how like big Farmer works in the medical 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.240 community in America, Like I could have seen this being like, well, 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.720 these swabs and envelopes and combs, Um, this will be 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.880 seven thousand dollars per kid. Yeah, it's because we put 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.600 it all in a box for you, Marty. God had 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.760 gotten the way of that from the outside and still 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.360 to this day. I mean, that's why they're not any 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.200 more than five to twenty five dollars even from like 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:29.000 a medical supplier. Amazing. So she's a hashtag hero? Are 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.959 you doing that now? Hashtag in it? Yeah, relate to 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.240 the game, my friend. As always. Have you heard about 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:41.240 this hashtag thing? You gotta go keep doing hashtag? Okay. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.320 See I knew you'd get a funny in there. Um 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.520 so that they were developed before DNA evidence was even around. 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:49.920 Um So this was back when it was just like 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.840 hair and fiber fingernails, stuff like that. UM, still very valuable. 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.640 And uh, I think one of the kits that's sort 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.000 of common these days is what's known as the Southwestern 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:06.880 Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit. It's like this the gold standard, 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.520 I guess so, UM, and it's called the Southwestern Obviously 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.199 it was in Texas, the Attorney General's office there in 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.320 kind of created this one. And UM, that's sort of, 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.040 like you said, the one that people look to or 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.800 base their's on. Yeah, because I mean they took the 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.480 groundwork that Marty Goddard came up with, going from to 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.360 all of what you call in the corporate world and 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:33.359 buzzbeak all the stakeholders in the process of um, apprehending 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:40.640 and convicting people, UM, who are who sexually assault other people? UM, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.479 you know, scumbags you can just say monsters, yeah, monsters. UM. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.240 And she figured out exactly how to put this together 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.240 and laid the groundwork, and then from what I understand, 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.440 in the late nineties, the Texas UM, the the Texas 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.920 Attorney General's Office said let's let's let's purifies it. Let's 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.720 let's make it even better, like using what we know. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.080 Then that's what's in use largely today. Although you're gonna 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.920 find different kids. There's no there's no actual standards, a 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.560 de facto standards, and and and at the same point, Um, 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.000 different hospitals you go to, even in the same state, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.600 are going to follow slightly different procedures. They might use 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.280 slightly different kits. But some case, some states have said no, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.920 this is important enough, Like here is how you do this. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.840 Here is the law of how you conduct a rape 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:30.040 kid examination. Yeah, and so Goddard and Vetulo, um, you know, 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.240 his stamp of approval, her working hard to get these things, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.680 you know, built from the ground up. The work that 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.559 they did together was like really set the standard in 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.439 the late seventies for this across the country, just becoming 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.079 just more a more normalized way to collect evidence and 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.600 take it more seriously. Right, It was a big, big deal, 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.480 big one. Yeah, not just literally having you know, all 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.360 of the implements you need to conduct this investigation, but 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:02.760 just the very presence of these sexual assault evidence collection fits. 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.560 The fact that they exist, says law enforcement, saying, Okay, yeah, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.480 this is a bigger deal than we've been treating it. 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:10.800 You want to take a break, Yeah, let's do it. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:12.640 We're gonna take a break. Everybody. I don't know if 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:42.160 you just heard but won't be right back. It's alright, Chuck. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.000 So the very reason that these kids exist is because 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.480 sexual assault is a very unique kind of crime in 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:54.600 that the victim, the body of the victim, is a 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.760 crime scene, um, a walking talking crime scene. I mean 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.280 like if you're murdered or something thing and like your 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.480 body is dumped somewhere, your your body is still a 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.000 crime scene, but you're walking around moving. You can actually 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:12.280 contaminate the very crime scene from your assault just by 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.520 doing things that any normal human being would want to 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.400 do after being sexually assaulted. It's it's, in that sense, 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.960 a very unique kind of kind of crime scene. And 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.440 that's what sexual assault evidence collection kids are for is 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:32.080 to step by step, methodically systematically collect that evidence um 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.000 and and and preserve it so that it can later 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.240 be analyzed in using court. Yeah. So these are the 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.320 recommended steps if you've been a victim. And like I said, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:44.760 there are a thousand reasons that you would not want 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.640 to do any and all of these things, and we 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.600 totally get that, but uh, and I think Ed puts 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:53.760 it in a really good way. Um, in this article, 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.520 he said, to receive the best possible care just medically 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.320 for yourself and to have the best chances is of 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.480 collecting good evidence. UM. It needs to be within a 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:08.120 twenty four hour window ideally critical is critical, and apparently 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.520 up to three days it's still viable. But after three 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.880 days most experts are like, it's not as far as DNA, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.160 which is the real you know, really what you're looking for. UM. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.400 You will be uh very upset, and you may be 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.280 in literal shock. UH, you may have had one or 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.800 more panic attacks. All of these things make it very 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.760 difficult to to carry out like logical steps. But UM 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.520 experts say that the first thing you want to do 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.120 obviously is get somewhere safe as soon as you can. UM, 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.320 get away if your attacker is around, and try and 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.080 find someone you know an advocate for you, whether it's 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.160 a friend or a family member who can kind of 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.000 be with you in the in the first you know, 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.520 hours after this this horrific event has happened, UM, go 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.480 to the emergency room, even if you're not injured. Quote 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.960 unquote physics like, you really should go to the emergency 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.080 room as soon as you can. This is a big one, 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.320 not just because the emergency room is where you're going 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.879 to um have this kid administered. But also because it 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:19.080 takes such tremendous um reserve to draw on such tremendous 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.680 reserves to take yourself out of the comfort and safety 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.439 of your home, which is probably where you went, to 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.800 not take a shower, which is another huge step too, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.159 And to just say I'm going to go to the 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.919 emergency room and um and undergo this procedure and let 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.000 a bunch of strangers poke and probably and tell them 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.640 about what has happened. That's the ideal of what you're 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.679 supposed to do. But if you look at it in 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.720 that respect, that's just such a that's such a huge 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.240 thing on top of what just happened, that that that 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.960 this is required of you to to catch the person 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.560 who just did it. I mean from a from a 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:56.960 bystanders perspective, it just makes you want to catch them 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.679 even more. You know that that's on top of the 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.280 salt as well. Yeah, because it's not like the trauma 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.879 is over for you and anyway it may never be. 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.600 But UM, go to the e R as soon as 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.439 you can if it's not right. If you if you 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.480 go to sleep and wake up the next day, you 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.960 can go to the emergency room. Then, like it's just 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.840 important that you go whenever you feel like you can 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.760 do so. Um And like you said, it's um probably 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.080 the least intuitive thing you could imagine to not want 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:32.840 to shower and bathe yourself, but that that gets rid 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:36.440 of a lot of evidence. So it's it's a terrible 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:42.960 But they say, please do not shower, They say please please. 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:50.399 If you, um, you should keep the clothes you're wearing 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.000 on if you can, if understandably you can't or don't 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:57.000 want to, um, save them. Yeah, put him in a 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.200 bag and take them to the er with you. Yeah, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.600 if you have the wear with all to change clothes, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.639 and this is something that they will have you do 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.600 in the hospital, have you stand over like uh like 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.600 butcher paper or maybe even a towel, if you have 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.880 the wherewithal to do that wherever you are, um, whether 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.280 it's at home or in a hotel or someplace. Put 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.720 that in there too, because when you're changing your clothes, 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.760 that's when you know DNA evidence can can fall out, 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.560 whether it's a hair or whatever. And in right, just 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.880 collect everything you can and put it in a bag. Certainly, 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.520 do not wash those clothes and then take those with 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.879 you to the emergency room. And then the last thing, Um, 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.840 you should know just because you're going to an emergency room, 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.280 and even if you are tested with this forensic kit, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.320 you're not required to file a police report. Ever. That's 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:47.520 a big one, but especially right away. It's not like 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.679 they're gonna have a cop in there grilling you. Um, 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.960 you can file this police report whenever you want to. Yeah, 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.080 if you are not comfortable filing a police report right 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.320 then you can do what's called a Jane Doe or 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:04.359 imagine a John Doe um examination where they just go 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:06.480 through all the steps and collect all the evidence, but 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.720 you never see a cop there. They don't call the 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.480 police until after you've left. Um. So that's a that's 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.199 a big one for a lot of people. The end 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.359 points out though in some states there is still a 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.399 statute of limitations of between ten and twenty one years, 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.119 although some states have removed the statute of limitations for 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:28.720 a felony sexual assault. Um, but there there there can 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.320 be a clock ticking. But we're talking ten years at 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.199 the least, right, Um, So yeah, you don't have to 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.800 This isn't something you have to knock out that day. 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.720 If you don't want to if you're not ready to UM. 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.720 When you go to the e R for a UH, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.720 this kind of examination, you are signing up for a 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:53.200 few hours. It's going to take a few hours. Is 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.800 not a quick procedure. And there's something else that you 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.320 should know that I really hope won't discourage you, but 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:01.160 you should go into it knowing it is a UM, 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.560 it's an invasive procedure. UM. They have to collect evidence 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.520 from everywhere the um that the the guy who did 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:09.960 this to you or the person who did this to 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.920 you was And they're also going to ask you they're 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:14.560 going to take an oral history and they're going to 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.920 ask you to basically recount the worst thing that's ever 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.280 happened to you within twenty four hours after it happened. 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.119 And UM. Then they're gonna go over all of the 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:27.719 spots with things like swabs and tweezers and combs and 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:30.440 things like that to collect this evidence. And it's gonna 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.320 take a while. But you should expect to be treated 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:38.840 very gently and with a tremendous amount of respect UM 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.760 from the people who are going to administer this examination. 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:44.679 And I would guess to a hospital there will be 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.119 counselors available there to be there with you if you 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:50.040 don't have like a friend or a family member there 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.720 with you or anything. Yeah, in rural areas are where 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.280 they're they still need to do a lot of catch 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.119 up work UM in hospitals and things like that. But 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.320 if you're in any major city, UM, there will almost 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.640 chance that you'll have what's called a sexual assault nurse 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:08.239 examiner on staff. UM. This is a nurse who has 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:12.840 received extra training UM on how to administer this exam. Uh. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.399 Like we said before, like any nurse can do this 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.240 and do a great job. But if you have a 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.160 U s A, any a sane trained person on staff, 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.040 then that's who you'll be seeing. UM. And you know, 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:28.679 like I said, in rural areas, they're just it's just 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.040 tough to staff up for for things like this. So 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.920 they're still doing all they can to get grant money 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:36.000 and stuff like that to get these people trained up. Yeah, 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.119 it's just a question of extra funding. Because if you 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.840 give a hospital funding that's set aside for sane nurses, 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.639 you just created a new position in a hospital that 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:47.159 wasn't there before. You've given the nursing staff there an 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.200 incentive to go further their education, invest in their education 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:52.399 so that they can have this better job in the 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.920 same hospital and help people as well. So it's really 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:58.919 just a question of of funding. Yeah, that's it, you know. 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:01.440 I mean a lot of this stuff sadly is question 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:06.320 of funding. Yeah. Luckily there is enough agitation at the 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:11.280