Summary: A serial rapist rapes the same women repeatedly over a period of many years. One of his victims, a grittified Jennifer Love Hewitt, lives as a hermit to try to hide from him, but he stalks her and rapes her for a fourth time in an alley. The police are frustrated by a backlog of sex kits, which means DNA evidence from the previous rapes has been unprocessed, lost, or destroyed.
Verdict: A-
What They Got Right: There is a scandalous backlog of rape kits in the United States. After someone is sexually assaulted, the police will ask her to voluntarily undergo a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (also called a SANE or a rape kit). This SVU episode showed a painfully realistic one. Swabs are taken of the victim’s mouth, vagina, thighs and anus; clothing is collected; photos are taken; hairs are plucked from the head and pubic area. It is a long and unhappy process, but crucial to collect forensic evidence like semen, saliva, blood, and hairs which may contain DNA and other evidence. In many cities, though, there’s a ridiculous backlog of rape kits sitting in warehouses, gathering dust. It’s estimated that 400,000 kits in America remain untested. Some cities are doing better than others – New York has no backlog, while Detroit has 16,000 untested rapes kits. DNA testing today is incredible, with the power to definitively solve crimes like never before. We have a national databank of DNA called CODIS, which holds the DNA profiles of eight million convicted criminals — but it’s only a useful tool if we actually compare these to evidence taken from unsolved rapes. The failure to process the backlog of sex kits – which could help solve countless brutal crimes – is a national tragedy. This episode of SVU did a fantastic job of shining a light on the problem. Hopefully, it will make people talk, care, and take action.
What They Got Wrong: In real life, all the cops on this show would have been fired. When they couldn’t get enough evidence on this suspect, they passed out posters with his picture that said THIS MAN IS A RAPIST; they crashed a cocktail party and shouted that he was a rapist; they went to his job and yelled that he was a rapist in front of his colleagues and bosses. This was kooky, borderline insane. Cops and prosecutors can’t and don’t do this. We work through a very specific process. If there’s probable cause that someone committed a crime, we can get a warrant to arrest him or search his house, or we can ask a Grand Jury to indict him. We can prove at trial that he committed the crime, and send him to jail. But we can’t going around yelling accusations at his job or happy hours. Might be fun. Sure would beat researching on Westlaw. But no one who plays by the rules, or wants to keep her job, would do it.
And, I’m sorry to say, the whole premise of this story was a stretch. I’ve never heard of a serial stranger rapist who targets the same woman multiple times. Sometimes boyfriends or husbands rape their partner over and over, and the woman never reports it, or reports it but then gets back together with him. But the concept of a stranger rapist repeatedly terrorizing the same woman (much less a dozen women) is, as far as I can tell, pure imagination.
Finally, the judge got the law all wrong (but it was nice to see the mom from “Who’s The Boss” again. Where’s she been all these years? She looked good, right? Incidentally, I hear Tony Danza is starring in a new reality show where he teaches a real high-school English class. But I digress.). The judge threw the rape case out during a preliminary hearing, because the old DNA had degraded, so her “hands were tied.” But the victim had just testified that the guy raped her. That’s plenty. We’ve been prosecuting rapes without DNA evidence since Biblical times. DNA is great to have, but it’s not essential, especially if you have a witness saying “I’m 100% sure this is the guy who raped me; I’d recognize him anywhere.” I think the SVU writers threw the case out to make a point about the backlog of sex kits, but, while it was a compelling story, it was legally incorrect.
That said, the show still deserves an “A” grade, because of its important, relevant, and powerful message about the need to process the backlog of sex kits in this country.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out Linda Fairstein’s insightful essay on The Daily Beast. Fairstein headed the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit for over twenty years, and was a leader in eliminating the rape-kit backlog in New York by instituting smart policies. She now writes fascinating novels about her work.
*All the views expressed here are mine alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Justice.
What did you think ? Leave me a message – I’d love hear your thoughts or answer any questions.
Lauren says
30 September, 2010 at 3:00 pmGreat episode and recap! I was wondering if it’s normal for the police to stakeout a victim’s residence after she has declined to participate in an investigation. It seemed like the cops crossed a line and were harassing Jennifer Love Hewitt. Is that legal?
Babs says
30 September, 2010 at 3:53 pmUgh. I understand backlogs, but it makes no sense that there would be a backlog that involved vital DNA evidence! Seems like the sort of thing that would be a high priority. Are there not enough people available to process these? Are the rape cases held up until they can be processed? I can’t imagine if a guilty person went free simply because no one was able to process the evidence in time for the trial. Between backlogs and mothers that don’t believe their own daughters (just read your last blog), you must be so frustrated!
Nanno Bananno says
30 September, 2010 at 4:11 pmWhy was the ‘Ghost Whisperer’ raped!?! Hope her other show hasn’t been cancelled!
Allison Leotta says
4 October, 2010 at 3:12 pmThis was just a guest appearance. I think Jennifer Love Hewitt will still be free to whisper to ghosts, especially now that her attacker is in jail for a long time. 🙂
Allison Leotta says
30 September, 2010 at 4:11 pmHi Lauren! It is common to have to work very hard to get a rape victim to trust you and talk to you. Sexual assaults are the most underreported crimes. Sometimes, talking about the assault is almost as painful for the victim as being assaulted. So police and prosecutors have to work really hard to gain a victim’s trust. I don’t suggest staking out their house, like the TV detectives did, though! There’s nothing illegal about what SVU’s Det. Benson did, but I’m pretty sure the victim wouldn’t appreciate it, and it wouldn’t be a very effective trust-building technique!
Allison Leotta says
30 September, 2010 at 4:17 pmHi Babs! Yes, the rape kit backlog is a real travesty. The fact that there is this incredible evidence, just sitting there unused because some cities don’t have the funds, is terrible. And yes, rape cases are held up in those cities — and sometimes destroyed completely — because the kits aren’t tested in time. Meanwhile, the perp is running around and often times hurting someone else. So this is a big issue that needs to be resolved. And it’s not just about punishing past rapes — it’s about preventing future ones.
Terri says
2 October, 2010 at 4:13 amHello-
I just found you by sheer accident, and what a great find! Love your posts rating crime shows! I’m a ‘Damages’ addict myself, so my life with the tube (old-fashioned, I know…) doesn’t begin until next year.
The high tech on Gary Sinese’s show is pretty cool, I think. I wish it were real- maybe we’d actually catch some more bad guys BEFORE the crimes…
Congratulations on the great endorsement from Professor Dershowitz, BTW!
Allison Leotta says
4 October, 2010 at 3:10 pmThanks for checking out my website, Terri! I’m also a TV crime addict. Your blog looks great. I’m now following it. And thank you for the great shout-out!!
Terri says
6 October, 2010 at 5:52 amI appreciate great content, and I also appreciate your support! (I don’t know why your RSS feed isn’t working on my computer — I keep trying to subscribe. Maybe I’ve got to fix some setting on my system….ARRGGGHH!)
Steve says
15 October, 2010 at 5:39 am“DNA testing today is incredible, with the power to definitively solve crimes like never before.” True; as long as one is careful not to commit the prosecutor’s fallacy, that is.
As several polls at the Volokh Conspiracy have shown, lawyers (as a whole) lack a basic understanding of simple mathematical concepts. I have little faith that statistics/probability are understood any better. This is exacerbated by the fact that probability is frequently unintuitive.
A woman has two children, at least one of whom is male. What’s the probability that both are male? Hint: It isn’t 50%.
Allison Leotta says
21 October, 2010 at 4:50 amOk, I’ll bite! What’s the probability that both children are male? And am I right to guess that you pretty much blew the top off the logic portion of the SAT, Steve?
Liz says
23 October, 2010 at 5:11 amLOVE your blog. I love this show and am active in the fandom, and I get a lot of flak from fellow fans for wondering aloud about the sheer impossibilities on which the scripts are sometimes based — it’s not as if realistic scripts are not entertaining (as literally hundreds of previous “SVU” episodes prove), but in the past few seasons, the show seems to have gone off the deep end more often than it used to.
This episode really bothered me. I felt that both the very important cause and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s incredible performance deserved a much better script; I should not have been laughing during half of the show, but the “police work” was so ludicrous that I couldn’t help myself. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thought they would have been fired in a red-hot second for that behavior. And there was really no need for it. A good writer would have found a better way.
On another note, thank you for all you do for victims.
Liz says
23 October, 2010 at 5:12 amWhoops, that wasn’t supposed to be a reply to that question. Oh well. In any case, the probability of two male children is 25% (1/2 times 1/2 = 1/4).
Allison Leotta says
25 October, 2010 at 2:35 amYeah, I agree. It was a really important message — but there were some really silly parts of the script. I wish they’d had a more realistic way to talk about the rape-kit issue.
And thanks for your thanks! That’s really nice to hear.
Aeon J. Skoble says
15 October, 2010 at 2:23 pmI am very much enjoying your commentary, but was puzzled by your query RE Judith Light “where has she been?” She’s been guest starring on SVU for a few years now!
Elizabeth says
16 October, 2010 at 12:37 amI couldn’t help wondering while watching this episode if the efforts to expose the backlog of rape kits in this country might have unintended consequences. As sad as it is to say, a LOT of people in this country get the bulk of their knowledge of the legal system from procedural cop shows like L&O. When they see an episode of SVU that highlights the futility of rape kit collection, given the incredible processing backlog, doesn’t that run the risk of subtly implying that victims shouldn’t bother getting a kit done since it won’t be processed anyway?
Allison Leotta says
21 October, 2010 at 4:58 amThat’s a really interesting question. I hope not. That would be an unfortunate unintended consequence. I would encourage anyone who has suffered a sexual assault to get a rape kit done as soon as possible after the attack. Rape victims have a small but very real window of time in which their participation can help preserve some of the most powerful forensic evidence ever available to bring their attacker to justice (while DNA in things like semen can be found up to 72 hours after it is deposited, the chances of finding it go down as time passes). Law enforcement catches and convicts sex offenders all the time based on this evidence. It is a sad truth that some jurisdictions need to do better with the speed at which they process this evidence. But getting a rape kit done is not futile.