The backlog of untested rape kits causes continuous outcry among women’s advocates. Wendy Murphy says this focuses on the wrong issue because most rape cases are about consent, not who did it.

(WOMENSENEWS)–Throughout the country we hear constant outcry about DNA rape kits that never get tested.

Women’s eNews has run commentaries about this supposed outrage and just two weeks ago The New York Times reported on a presumably shocking stockpile of untested kits in Texas. A couple of years ago, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof compared the problem to something more likely to occur in Afghanistan than the United States, which turned up the clamor about untested kits.

Hold on.

The U.S. legal system may be embarrassingly bad at providing meaningful redress for rape victims, but untested DNA kits are not the problem. To the contrary. Public attention to the untested kits makes the problem of systemic injustice worse because it saps precious resources and distracts us from the real issues.

DNA testing is not only a red herring wrapped up in a Trojan horse, it’s a gigantic neon whale, stuffed inside a Trojan elephant-in-the-room.

Rape kits may be stacked up in criminal evidence closets all over the country, but not because there isn’t enough money or political will to demand testing. It’s because as many as 90 percent of the kits contain evidence that is, at most, irrelevant.

Eighty-five percent of victims know their attackers and the defense is focused on consent, not whether the act occurred. In such cases, DNA tells us nothing about the issue in dispute. A rape kit could contain the DNA of three men, five sheep and the Loch Ness monster, and it would have nothing to do with whether the victim consented to sex on the night in question.

Ugly Legal History

The United States has an ugly, historic and pervasive habit of prosecuting a far greater percentage of theft crimes than sex crimes, and punishing thieves more harshly than rapists, which partly explains why rape is the least reported of all crimes. Why would any woman bother to call police when studies show that victims are often blamed for the man’s crime and only 2 percent of rapists spend even one day behind bars?

But that problem isn’t caused by the failure to conduct expensive tests on tens of thousands of untested rape kits. It’s that we live in a culture where women’s bodies and rights are disrespected by violent men and have a legal system that refuses to hold them accountable.

This well-known concern notwithstanding, it’s hard to find a newspaper or advocacy organization that hasn’t written, instead, about the need to test “all” old rape kits.

Human Rights Watch at one point found that over 12,000 kits in California went untested for years.

Kristof and others seized on this for outpourings of outrage.

But 90 percent of those 12,000 cases involve victims and perpetrators who know each other. That means only about 1200 kits should even be considered for testing. Of those, there’s a good chance a majority will be rejected for testing because studies have long shown that many rapists do not ejaculate.

If we tested only the small minority of cases where DNA might actually help elucidate the truth–or where the offender is unknown–we’d have a much smaller backlog of kits stacked up. This targeted use of resources would, in turn, free up funds for expedited processing in the stranger rape cases where DNA is critically important.

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Violations of Privacy

If wasting money were the only problem, I might not be so cranky.

But conducting needless tests on already traumatized victims causes gratuitous violations of privacy and due process rights; not only for victims but also for their consensual sex partners, who can get dragged into these cases.

The government has no authority to conduct invasive tests on a victim’s constitutionally-protected bodily fluids unless such tests are ordered by a judge after a hearing where the tests are deemed necessary to resolve an issue legitimately in dispute at trial. Since almost all rape cases involve a consent defense, few of these hearings will take place, and even fewer will be successful. As it should be.

The way it works now is not only backward, it’s nutty. Medical professionals working as agents of the government inject medical implements into the victim’s body cavities and take samples of deeply personal biological material.

The victim typically signs a document indicating she consents to the intrusion, but she has no knowledge at that time that the examiner may uncover information about her–such as HIV status and DNA from consensual sex partners–and that this material will unfairly be shared with the defense, used against her at trial and revealed in public documents and in open court.

There is no “knowing, intelligent and voluntary” consent to the testing because she has not been provided with a full understanding of the consequences of her consent. There is no due process or court hearing to ensure that only truly relevant and material evidence is obtained. No warrants are issued. Nothing. It’s like the police entering your home without a warrant and conducting a search of your medicine cabinet after you agree to let them in because they told you they’re looking for an escaped murderer.

Bottom line: If there’s a rape kit sitting on a shelf, chances are it’s not proof of some grave injustice, but rather, evidence that a victim’s privacy rights are intact.

Wendy Murphy is an adjunct professor at New England Law/Boston where she teaches a seminar on sexual violence. She’s a former sex crimes prosecutor and author of “And Justice For Some.” An impact litigator who specializes in violence against women, Murphy consults and lectures widely on sex crimes, violence against women and children and criminal justice policy.

Related posts:

1. Pennsylvania: Judge Criticized in Rape Case
2. Male Rape Victims charged with Homosexuality??
3. Propping Up Rape Victims in Insincere Distraction in TSA Debate

Think Differently

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do!”

I just got this messaged to me from http://www.facebook.com/dkmatai and had to share it.  Thanks DK!

Is it Blogger Evolution or Blog Revolution? I say it’s -

Bloggerevolution

Where are you on the map?

You may be a reader and not a blogger and if you are – share!

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

I saw this post on Techi.com and had to repost this great graphic.   Look how far we’ve come since the grand ole’ 90′s!   There are some blogs that I truly love for their information and creativity and some that seem full of spite and rage – just like people. Even on the great graphic above there is everyone from emo to angry.  Our thoughts, ideas and private journals were once only shared up in tree houses with the selected few who had the password and now you can be cyberly stalked and read by people you’ve never met from those who love you and hate you.

BTW:   People will love you, people will hate you, and none of it will have anything to do with you. Abraham-Hicks

But since we’re all out there in the open, exposed to all eyes, what’s the end goal?   I still say the Internet is like a Bizarre Bazaar and we all have a booth.  The question is what are you doing at your booth?  Hopefully you are contributing to the greater good.

Definition of REVOLUTION

2
a : a sudden, radical, or complete change You mom starts blogging and tweeting!

b : a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed A surge of blogs affect the election or resignation of someone in office

c : activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation Bloggers make or break a new business, movie, CD or other idea.

d : a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm Bloggers open people’s minds to a new way of thinking since you can read them for free at the library and not get caught by the person feeding your old lies and dogma.

e : a changeover in use or preference especially in technology Suddenly everyone is telling their story on the internet.  Everyone really does have a booth.

If everyone has a booth then collectively we can all destroy the whole Bizarre Bazaar or help it function as a living organism benefiting all.  Is that too altruistic?  I’ve been accused of being a pie-in-the-sky daydreamer before, trying to be a do-gooder so I’ll leave it in your court.  Do you blog hate, love or indifference?

Some of my personal favorite booths:

It’s Jerry Time -  http://itsjerrytime.com/

Scientific American – http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Welcome to Legs – http://www.welcometolegs.com/

Hubble Site – http://hubblesite.org/

Glendon Mellow – http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com/

Please share yours!

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1. Friends, Fans, Followers

Recently Amazon got a lot of heat for having the creepy The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct written by weirdo freak Phillip R. Greaves, II (his name even sounds creepy). ps: Don’t Rape Kids Go F Yourself.

I love how quickly people made their voices heard, especially how quickly Amazon removed the book from the site.  But I wonder, why blame Amazon?  I noticed a lot of people urging everyone to join groups and no longer purchase from the mega resource of Amazon and I simply ask why.  Before you start spray painting your signs, putting on your war paint to go stand in front of the Amazon warehouses or post anti-Amazon photos on your Facebook walls, think about this for a second – Blaming Amazon is like blaming church in general for all the rapists who hide behind the “holy” cloth.  Amazon also carries the Bible.  It also has The Secret, the Power of Now, and hordes of self-published works some authors may never have been able to get on the market if it weren’t for Amazon.  My book, documentary and first movie are available on Amazon too, so are the Safe Side videos that protect kids.

In my not so humble opinion, I think having books like that weirdo Phillip Greaves’s one out there is a great opportunity to stake him out.  It’s like he put up a smoke signal for authorities, or um Bikers Against Child Abuse.  Why not go after him instead of Amazon?  There are loads of other books that are insulting and offensive out there.  By putting this book out, he just gave those of you who are responsible parents more clues on what to watch out for to protect your kids by the way.

In answer to this particular e-book Dr. Phil said “This is a despicable crime, and for someone to say ‘I want to write a book to tell you how to do this in a way that if and when you get caught you won’t get such harsh sentencing’ – that’s offensive to the most casual observer. It doesn’t even make common sense.”  I totally agree, it is offensive and gross and sick and and and…

http://www.marktoon.co.uk/

But who are you blaming?  If you’re shaking your fists at Amazon, why not go after the Internet itself?  Why not after those who provide IP addresses for child porn sites?  The beast of child sexual abuse is much larger than this particular freak.  These peprs are not going away, it’s not like removing one book is going to take the beast down. It only gives them more press, allowing them to find each other and join forces.  Blech.

I was in the trauma and recovery movement for a decade, unfortunately learning more than I’d like to know about perpetrators and their networks. If you want to really cause a ruckus with your wallet by boycotting, I suggest you stop shopping at places run by perps where the money actually goes into their pockets. But if you did that, you probably wouldn’t leave your house due to how prevalent organized offenders are in industries from the televisions you watch to the newspapers you read.  The Catholic Church does not hold the record for the majority of sex offenders.  Child rapists are also truck drivers, dentists, airline pilots, shrinks, politicians, judges, accountants and the list goes on and on.

I love seeing the public uproar over that lame Amazon e-book, it means people are paying attention to the subject of child sexual abuse finally.  At least you’re talking about it!  Now, my hope is that more people stop raping kids and go F themselves.

As far as going after Amazon, I simply suggest you step back for a moment to be selective on how you utilize your rage.   If you want to really make a difference in taking down child rapists, their networks and the organized crime that helps them prosper I have a suggestion.   Take the roofs off of every Family Court in America and do a system analysis, researching how and how many “alleged” child rapists are getting full custody of their “alleged” victims.   I guarantee you’ll have much more to be angry at than an e-book.  I’m not saying that all Family Courts are dirty, just like not all priest are freaks.  I’m simply suggesting using your anger wisely if you really want to make a difference.   This subject matter can be infuriating, many times causing those who mean well to spin in counterproductive ways.  I’m not saying don’t comment, report and demand things that this be taken down, it’s the power of the people that got it taken off the site.  Believe me, sometimes I’d love to bring back the wild west when I hear the thousands of stories I’ve heard.

After years of research in child sexual abuse and domestic violence, I believe the best place to begin to really make a difference is exposing the system that allows child sexual abuse to continue “legally” – the Family Courts.

In the meantime, I think more stupid perps like that Phillip idiot should come forward with more of their ridiculous books so we can know who they are, exactly what they’re up to, where they live and who their friends are.

PS:  Get trained on how to recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse by taking the Stewards of Children Program from Darkness to Light.

Go write a book.  Thank you for not raping kids.

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1. OMG – You can pre-order my book on Amazon now!
2. Get Searching for Angela Shelton on Amazon!
3. Ro-Ro-Ro Your Boat Down Zombie Lane, Merrily Merrily Merrily Who Do We Blame?

While watching Ohdoctah on his Wednesday show, the topic came up of how to be a better person.  I think the key is following The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book of Be Impeccable with Your Word, Don’t Take Things Personally, Don’t Make Assumptions and Do Your Best but I’ll add some more.

1. Be Healed ~ Don’t be a Sick Jerk

It is far too easy to take things personally when you are still caught up in old drama from your childhood, a relationship gone bad, the last election or whatever else you’re still holding onto.  People who have not healed pull down shades and see new experiences through old fears, anxieties and pain and all it does is repeat the cycles they think they are trying to avoid.  Pull up the old shades and see life with clear eyes.  Healing is possible and there are plenty of pathways out there. Find your own path to healing and realize that you’re not the only person in the world going through pain.  You have the power to create a new reality when you are healthy in body, mind and spirit.  Do it.  Keeping your issues alive only makes it difficult for you and for everyone else around you.   You can do better for the planet by healing yourself and then inspiring others to do the same.  You are that powerful, so be healed!

2. Make More Love

Duh. Love makes the world go round, do more of it.  Making love doesn’t always mean having sex either.  Hug more.  Smile at someone on the street. Be nice. Do loving things like plant a garden. Dive deep within your soul and find what you really love to do creatively and do it.  Paint a picture and give it as a gift.  Take photos of beautiful places and share them.  Tell someone that you love that you love them.  Send nice tweets.  Call your mother (except those of you raised by wolves – in that case adopt a new good mom and call her).

3. Send Thank You Cards

It takes very little time to send a handwritten thank you note to someone who you met, who helped you, or who you just like.  You can write on someone’s Facebook wall too, but there’s nothing like an old fashioned hand written note.  If you forgot how to write by hand, practice.

4. Do Something that Helps the World

Stop complaining and do something useful.  There are far too many people spending far too much time complaining about what’s wrong with the world or how they were wronged by something or someone and they take up too much air and Internet space.  You don’t have to start your own organization, you can go volunteer at one that you like.  Leave an abusive relationship.  Stop abusing people.  Learn a new trade.  Learn a language and travel to expand your mind.  Do not procreate if you are unhealthy.  Mentor a teenager.  Stop using plastic straws.  Don’t ask for a plastic bag.  Ride your bike.

5. Repeat Steps 1-4

Repeat the steps like you would repeat an affirmation until suddenly you’re like – Wow, I’m a better person and I like myself and the world around me!  Thank Goddess.

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1. 10 Ways to Say You’re Not Interested (or NO)

Here is the talk I did that the 2010 TED X in Asheville!

See how you can squish yourself or someone else today.  Just try it.  It works.

Here’s the “I heart you squish” T-shirts. The backwards one is great so you can see it in the mirror.  It’s a great way to start a conversation.

How much time to you spend on negative stuff?  Thinking about it, talking about it, worrying about it?   Squish works in so many ways to change those thought patterns and actually “squish” them away.   I’d love to know how you use it and how it helps.  Please comment about your squish-abilities!

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2. Twitter Love ~ Tips on How to Twitter
3. The Love of My Life

I am fascinated by the small pieces that make up the patterns and processes of our lives.  For me, there is a very thin line between science and spirituality.  What if the only difference between our lives was perception?  You could dramatically transform your life to any life you choose by altering your perceptions.  Ah, ha!  If you keep repeating a reality to yourself, you make that reality appear.  Believe it and then see it.

According to Bruce Lipton, we are controlled by our perceptions!  We are actually simple creatures with very complicated perceptions.  What if the world is not what you thought it was?  Bruce Lipton talks about how the belief that our health and fate were pre-programmed in our genes may very well be an illusion. This is a long video but it makes my brain all giddy and titillated like it’s being flirted with!   I love this stuff!!

This video is a very detailed explanation of why I talk about the power of Squish! You can change your mind and your life.

A comment came in on my Home Page from volunteer at TEDxAsheville who said: just wanted to let you know that your talk was GREAT! Thank you for sharing yourself with us. I swear I’m not some woo-woo crazy Asheville hippie, but I wanted to share a dream I had last night. Doc Hendley gave you a canning kettle full of butterflies in various stages of butterfly-ization. You opened up the kettle and laughed this amazing, belly-full laugh and all the caterpillars jumped up on your arms, and the butterflies were flying around your head while you skipped around the room. It was amazing. I hope you’ve learned to see yourself as you appear to the rest of the world. I’m still shedding all my cocoons, but you definitely seem to be a butterfly. You are such an inspiration! Thanks for being your squishy self.

WOW! I just had to repost that. First of all Doc Hendley is not only hot as hell (and married with children), he is one of the good men out doing good things in the world.  It’s a honor to be in the same dream as him and speaking at the same event.  He founded Wine to Water – non-profit aid organization focused on providing clean water to needy people around the world.

As it says on the TEDx site: Doc Hendley /henˈlēⁿ/ 1 : founder and president of Wine To Water 2 : named one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes for 2009 3 : calls himself proof that anyone, even a tattooed keg-tapper, can cure what ails the world.

The fact that he and I were in a dream together is such a great metaphor for me.  Both of us are “setting butterflies free” from totally different worlds.   We spent some time talking at the event and he is an extraordinary man as in extra-ordinary too. He even toasted a glass of water to the audience at the end of his talk and pointed out what a “nobody” could do since he went from a bartender to a hero by following a dream.

Speaking of dreams and butterflies – they play a significant part in things I’ve been writing recently!  Devon’s dream was a great little “keep dreaming and keep writing ” poke.   Plus, it propelled me back into a memory from when I was about three and had collected a whole jar full of fireflies with my brother and sister and who opened the lid in the house?  Me!!

Here’s something lovely ~

I just spoke at TEDx in Asheville and what a wonderful experience! The music was fantastic. I loved all the speakers.  The high bright energy was contagious. It was a great night.  A huge bonus is that they played the below video during a portion of it and I discovered one of my new favorite people.  I don’t think that putting people on pedestals is a good idea since everyone has gas.  Perhaps we should pick a bright spotlight or a halo glow or a special carpet maybe.  That being said, Adora Svitak is in that spotlight for me.

Adora Svitak

Wow, what we can all learn from children!  I do a standing ovation just watching this on my laptop.

I adore her and I adore her parents.

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I discovered this article today on Twitter via a post by TypeMicah (thank you!)

Jeremy Irons narrates a mocumentary about the life of a plastic bag and its journey to the ‘Pacific garbage patch’.

It was produced by campaign group Heal the Bay – lobbying for a ban on plastic bags in California

Brilliant!  Please help them help us.

I’ve always wanted to make a film about a plastic bag, I must say. I have notes in many of my creative journals about a film called Litter about this little plastic bag that won’t give up.  But no need to make that anymore after seeing this!  I love it.  If you’ve seen the end of my documentary (I hear the original one with the funny end is on Netflix), you know how I feel about Litter.  Those who litter reveal so much about themselves and the litter itself is becoming a country all its own in the middle of the ocean!  I have a long long list of ideas and creative projects so my plastic bag one gets the big check mark next to it because of brilliance like this.   This is the Global Brain at work.  It’s not about being upset about how you shoulda, coulda, woulda done something, it’s about what are you going to do now.  I’m going to help promote this movie and their cause!
Please share it!
YouTube

Heal the Bay

And bring your own bags when you shop too!

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2. Plastic Bags

Smile! I was recently invited to take part in the Portrait Project to help Smile Train - a portrait project designed to help children around the world smile!  Thought I’d share some of the fun ones.  Let me know if they make you smile!  Make a comment about smiling while you’re smiling.

Here is the photographer Faleena’s project video.  She wants to tour the world with this idea so contact her.  She has a great story of how it all started. Help her out and smile while you’re at it.   http://smileportraitproject.com

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2. Sexual Abuse Survivor’s Art Show

Watch that video to your right please. What is up with all of the unneeded mail you get in your mailbox? I saw a tweet about newspapers ad inserts becoming obsolete. The comment was about how sad it was that the people who create those inserts will lose their jobs. It got me thinking. First of all, newspapers would be better off if they were all printed on hemp and then not only would there still be jobs, we’d be working smarter, not harder.  And printing on hemp has nothing to do with stoners or drugs or licking the paper inserts.  Hemp is what we should be printing on. The only reason we aren’t using hemp is because it’s illegal. And it’s illegal because the big-wig tree cutter (Hearst) saw that papers were going to be printed on hemp (because that makes way more sense) and he promptly set up a campaign in his tree-paper newspapers about how the drug was so bad. The campaign successfully scared the bejesus out of people about the horrible mary-jane-wanna and got the whole plant to become illegal (with the help of his other rich friends in Washington). So our rich friend kept his papers printed on trees.  Now you get insert ads and lots of them. Don’t even get me started on the ink and the shipping.  Printing on hemp and soy ink makes the most sense but that’s an entirely different article.

I’m talking about the insert ads. Good thing or bad thing? Why not get an E-coupon?  Why not just have everything on sale? Why do you get all this paper that you throw away anyway?

And by the way, when you watch that video to your right – I saw the Earthlings and now when I see pictures of meat, it makes me want to vomit, literally.  I’m still Southern. I still dive into denial and eat organic meat (yeah right, it’s still death).  I know, I know. Vomit.  Have a glass of hemp milk.