Looks like Alaska isn't the only state with a history of charging sexual assault victims for rape kits.
A local Houston news source featured the story, in which a number of survivors confirm that despite police authorities assuring them they wouldn't pay a penny for medical evidence gathered after an assault, they end up getting letters of delinquency and denial letters for funding from the state's Crime Victims Compensation Fund.
These denial letters are generally sent due to strict guidelines imposed by the legislature as to how the bills are paid. (The survivors must exhaust any other potential funding sources like the local police department or their insurance company.) The (not-so-)funny thing about this is that this fund exists to assist survivors financially yet has millions laying around, unspent every year:
Texas State Comptroller's office figures show the fund has tens of millions of dollars left over at the end of each year.In September 2006, the balance was $67,058,646 and one year later, the balance was $57,669,432.
In 2008, that figure was up again to $66,572,261 that was left unspent in the fund.
"A lot of people aren't going to ask. They're just going to go ahead and pay it and move forward with their lives. They don't want to keep re-living that experience," said Kelly Young of the Houston Area Women's Center.
The sad thing is, as Cara points out, that there are several states that charge victims, despite the violations committed against receiving grants under VAWA by doing it.
I couldn't find a Texas organization taking action on this (if anyone knows of one, please put in comments!), but what you can do is contact the Crime Victim's Compensation Fund directly and tell them to start putting their money where their mouth is. It's just shameful.
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Does anyone have any figures (or know how to dig up) the current backlog of untested Texas rape kits? I'd be willing to bet the number is huge. I can imagine going all kinds of Carrie on the Texas PD if I was both charged for my rape kit and then they had the audacity to NOT test it. One is bad enough without the other.
I think what's happened is pretty obvious -- the Republicans outsourced the government of Texas and downplayed the news.
This is an outrage. I can think of no other crime where victims are forced to pay for their own evidence collection. Texas needs to start paying for rape kit processing NOW.
This is just....unconscionable. The thing is, I'm not even shocked. That makes me even more depressed about this.
Yeah, I hate this so...much...!!!
I remember when I was reading this article last week my first thought (after thinking I should send this into Feministing and then doing just that) was that I wasn't surprised. I felt so pessimistic and cynical thinking like that but it's true.
I mean, lots of lawmakers and law enforcement people give two shits about rape survivors so why wouldn't something like this happen? And I love how the law says the survivors must exhaust any other potential funding sources like the local police department or their insurance company. It's all on the survivors to worry themselves sick figuring out how to pay for a rape kit. Then if they haven't gone completely crazy and experienced too much trauma reliving the horrible experience by trying to explain to their insurance providers and the local police what happened and why it needs to be paid for...then they can try to use the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. But it still may not work and go against their credit.
Fan-fucking-tastic!
You bet your butt that as a Texas resident I will be contacting my government officials and Crime Victim's Compensation Fund about this.
sickening! :-( more reasons for why I'm a Canadian wannabe...
Illinois also charges rape victims for their rape kits. As an aside, the amount that they are charged (300 to 1200) seems to be solely for the collection of the rape kit material, not the actual tests.
We also have a huge backlog of untested kits after Blago lied to us in 2006 and said they had virtually all been taken care of. Shocking right? Blago a liar? Get outta town!
But I'm confused as to what you're saying here: "the amount that they are charged (300 to 1200) seems to be solely for the collection of the rape kit material, not the actual tests." Maybe it's just your wording or I'm just not thinking clearly but what exactly is the point you're trying to make here? The distinction?
It shouldn't matter what is being charged, since it is about evidence collection, the government should be paying for it. Rape survivors shouldn't have to dwell on the fact they were raped by a having a bill shoved in their face. As far as I'm concerned, by making the victim pay they are saying it's the victim's fault it happened.
I don't find this story particularly clear on just what this woman was getting billed FOR.
The Houston Police Department made one payment toward the single mother's hospital bill, but when she submitted the $1,847 worth of remaining bills to the Crime Victims' Compensation Fund, she received a denial letter, telling her that law enforcement should have paid.
The article refers to a hospital bill and said that the local police department made one payment towards it. Was that for the evidence collection portion of the hospital charges?
The services which rape victims get in the emergency room which are exclusive of evidence collection, like testing and treatment for STDs and pregnancy prevention may be covered by an individual's health insurance/Medicaid/Medicare. Was this victim being billed for medical treatment and not evidence collection? Because I could understand that the Victim Compensation Fund might be reluctant to pay those sorts of charges unless this woman's insurance had declined payment first. (Although I think it's appalling that this was all dumped in her lap, and she was the one to have to chase down reimbursement for hospital costs.)
The Crime Victims Compensation Fund supposedly reimburses crime victims up to $50K for things like related medical care, lost wages and travel expenses.
And isn't there a federal law that requires states to cover the cost of collecting evidence for rape kits?
I wish this article was more explicit, because it refers to the evidence being "handled" and I think some people have taken that to mean that this woman is being billed for the evidence to be processed (forensically tested by the crime lab.) That is an expense that should never be borne by the victim. Nor should evidence collection, for that matter.
But I honestly don't think it is unreasonable to see if an individual's health insurance will cover charges related to medical treatment of the victim before the state covers these expenses.
If she were a victim of, say, a drunk driver, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the state to expect a claim to be submitted to her private insurance/Medicare/Medicaid first, and have them decline coverage before the Victim Compensation Fund was expected to cover them. The same with someone who had sustained property loss during a home invasion: bill the homeowner's insurance first, and then submit a claim for anything they didn't cover.
But billing a victim for the collection of evidence or the crime lab processing of that evidence is never acceptable in any circumstance.
The following statement is from Wikipedia:
"The United States spends an estimated $60 billion each year on corrections. While cost varies from state to state, in 2005, the average cost of incarceration per prisoner in the United states was $23,876. That comes out to $65.41 per day."
Rainn.org reports that every 2 minutes, someone in the US is sexually assaulted.
So, let me get this straight! People can commit crimes and get "room and board" at the cost of tax-payers. But rape victims, in addition to the emotional turmoil, working her way through a trial in which every detail of an unspeakable crime is scrutinized and gathering courage to move on with life, must pay for medical treatment?
Are criminals charged for the gas used up by police cruisers in car chases?
Are criminals charged for the length of rope used in a hanging or the bullet used in an execution?
There is something seriously wrong with this.
I'm tempted to turn in my TX driver's license and move back to the North.
Sources:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States#Cost_of_incarceration)
(http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/frequency-of-sexual-assault)
The Executive Director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault wrote an open letter to Texas sexual assault survivors regarding this issue on our blog.
http://taasa.org/blog/?p=1024
The letter talks about the numerous problems with the news story as well as the fact that this is not, as far as we at TAASA have witnessed, a recurring problem in Texas.