In 2015, before the law passed, 5,626 untested Sexual
Assault Forensic Exam kits (SAFE kits) sat on the shelves
of police departments throughout Oregon. Backlogged,
unprocessed kits had been building up since 1983. No
reform that addressed the volumes of shelved, untested and
destroyed rape kits came until the new 2016 law.
Oregon State Police Public Information Officer Bill
Fugate says police departments throughout the state reported
the number of kits in their possession to OSP in 2015. Kits
that were destroyed, due to the statute of limitations running
out or a victim’s decision not to move forward with a case,
were not reported to the Oregon State Police.
Rachael is part of a chilling statistic.
More than one in four women in Oregon “will experience
rape, and more than half of women (55.7 percent) and
nearly one in five men (18.6 percent) will experience other
forms of sexual violence in their lifetime,” according to the
state Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force.
Despite clearly defined rape and sexual assault laws,
minimum mandatory sentencing guidelines and the
passing of the Sexual Assault Survivors Rights Act signed
by President Obama — which establishes rights for sexual
assault victims pertaining to rape kits — several states are
sitting idly by while the backlog of untested kits grows.
According to End the Backlog, 16 states have made no
effort to address the backlog of rape kits and 13 states have
proposed reform.
Oregon is one of 16 states that have enacted limited
reform. Some states have undergone an audit of rape
kits, yet no states have enacted comprehensive statewide
reform.
Melissa’s Law and
Tracking the Backlog
Under the new law, the Oregon State Police are
required to present an annual legislative report detailing
the collection and processing of SAFE Kits in Oregon.
The department’s Report on Sexual Assault Kits was
published on Jan. 3. The total number of SAFE Kits
received was 1,281; total SAFE Kits completed, 757; total
The task force is in charge of looking at the state’s testing
process, how law enforcement is trained to handle sexual
assault investigations, the rights of victims and to “identify
and pursue grants and other funding sources in order to
eliminate the backlog of untested sexual assault forensic
evidence kits, reduce testing wait times, provide victim
notification and improve efficiencies in the kit testing
process,” according to Melissa’s Law.
Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and advocate, is also a
member of the task force.
Tracy’s kit was destroyed three years before the statute
of limitations on her assault expired. She says she knows
other survivors who have had the same experience.
Melissa’s Law now requires that kits be kept no less than
60 years after being collected.
A provision within Melissa’s Law requires that law
enforcement agencies communicate with a sexual assault
victim about the status of their kit, the testing results, and
whether a DNA result was obtained. It also requires that
the victim be provided with a contact within the agency.
Another Oregon woman, who doesn’t live in Lane
County but who otherwise didn’t want to be identified
because her case is still pending, has been calling the
prosecutor assigned to her case for several months.
After having a rape kit collected seven months ago, she
says she doesn’t know the status of her kit or her case, and
the prosecutor who called her in for an initial interview
will not return her phone calls and messages, the woman
says.
After the assault, police asked the woman to contact her
attacker several times in an attempt to get him to confess.
She says she received some coaching from the detective
assigned to her case, but ultimately, all she could do was
hope he would slip up and say something incriminating.
“That’s the most fucked up thing you could ever ask
anyone to do,” she says.
The woman also downloaded a phone-recording
application that cost $10 to record the calls to the
perpetrator.
“If that happened here, I would be furious,” Lane
County District Attorney Patty Perlow says. “We are
supposed to be providing services to victims of crime out
The SAFE Kit Process
Victims of sexual assault who report attacks face a
battery of procedures, which include multiple interviews
with police, undergoing an extensive medical exam,
and waiting for the results of a Sexual Assault Forensic
Examination kit and answers from state agencies.
EPD’s Meisel says investigating a rape case all depends
on the situation. If the survivor calls 911, the police will
first speak to the survivor and make sure to offer medical
attention. “If they decide they want to have a SAFE kit, the
kit is given to the patrol officer who takes it to the evidence
patrol unit, and then it gets sent to the lab.”
If the victim does not know the suspect, the rape kit
results can provide DNA evidence that can be used to
obtain a warrant.
“If you have a known suspect that you think is going
to continue to commit violent crimes, of course you don’t
want to wait for a long amount of time,” Meisel says.
After the assault, Rachael and her children moved to
a shelter. “It was another three weeks before I reported to
police because this individual was living across the street
from me, and I didn’t feel safe with my children … even
going back to the apartment to feed the cat and pack,” she
says.
Exactly seven months after the assault, an indictment
was issued for the man who raped her. It would be another
month before he was arrested.
Rachael was not informed about the status of her kit.
And from the moment she decided to report the rape and
have an invasive physical exam, she was reminded that the
outcome couldn’t prove that a sexual assault had occurred.
She was told that a rape kit just “proves that sex happened.”
Patti Kenyon is an adult and pediatric Oregon sexual
assault nurse examiner in Albany. The registered nurse
began training as a SANE in the late ’70s — at the time, she
says, it wasn’t common for RNs to obtain that certification.
“I’ve always been drawn to helping people who are
victims of injury, victims of crimes,” she says.
A SANE exam can take anywhere from three to eight
hours. Kenyon says the procedure can be completed in
about three hours, but people experiencing trauma often
MELISSA’S LAW REQUIRES
THAT KITS BE KEPT NO LESS
THAN 60 YEARS AFTER BEING
COLLECTED. TRACY’S KIT WAS
DESTROYED THREE YEARS
BEFORE THE STATUTE OF
LIMITATIONS ON HER ASSAULT
EXPIRED. SHE SAYS SHE KNOWS
OTHER SURVIVORS WHO HAVE
HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE.
BRENDA TRACY
P H OT O BY T OD D C OOP E R
number of pending SAFE requests, 742. The explanation
OSP gave EW for the discrepancy in numbers was that
some of the complete kits could have been received before
2016, and the same applies to pending kits.
The law also requires the formation of a Task Force on
the Testing of Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Kits. The
16-member task force designated four members, and the
remaining 12 members were appointed by Gov. Brown.
of that’s the right thing to do, not just because it’s mandated
by constitutional rights.”
The law does not set a time limit pertaining to the
processing of rape kits.
Eugene Police Capt. Sherri Meisel says EPD no longer
has a backlog of rape kits in its possession, and that all of
the rape kits collected are sent directly to the Oregon State
Police forensic labs.
have to stop and take breaks. First the victim has to be
assessed for injuries such as broken bones or cuts. If X-rays
or stitches are needed, those injuries are treated first.
Next Kenyon begins to get a medical history of the
patient and an account of whatever the person can recall
from the assault. Based on that information, Kenyon
conducts a gynecological exam with a victim’s advocate
in the room.
eugeneweekly.com • February 16, 2017
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