Rape victims forced to pay for their own exams
 

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-healt...ially-too.html

Apparently it isn't just Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin who thinks this is a great idea.

I don't know how I didn't know this goes on. I can't imagine a single other crime where the cop shows up at the victim's doorstep and presents them with a bill before he will conduct an investigation. I mean I would almost prefer that this be the result of straightforward misogyny, as the alternative is that we are just a society where it is acceptable to tell victims of a crime that they can get justice as long as they cough up the price.

What really stands out to me is that the federal government has handed out millions in grants in the last few years for like, riot gear and tasers and Humvees and every other manner of tool for the intimidation and harassment of lawful citizens. But when it comes to the means to actually investigating the commission of crimes, there's just no money to be found.

For one, females aren't the only people raped. Probably the majority, but not the only.

Two, this is probably a counter for people who want to fake a rape claim on somebody (which does occur). Could maybe be justified if I knew the statistics for it to actual crimes and it was a bad ratio.

Not saying this is a good thing, just pointing out a couple of things.

I'm sure there are tons of false rape claims out there which would in turn make this yet another example of people having to suffer because of the actions of a few idiots.

The government has no idea how to budget properly. This country is falling apart on many levels due to poor budgeting.

Edit: My fiancee found some more info on this http://www.feministing.com/archives/010930.html

This really shouldn't be in any way relevant to a police investigation. Any type of criminal accusation could be and has been faked, from theft to assault to negligent injury to murder. The entire reason we have a criminal justice system is to determine the truth of such allegations or suspicions. This is no excuse for picking out a selected class of alleged victims and saying that they have to incur a substantial monetary charge to even be considered as having a case by that system.

I mean this is directly analagous to you being assaulted and robbed at gunpoint, and then after you make it to a hospital and contact the police, they inform you that you must pay them a thousand dollars to prove that you aren't lying before you aren't saying. Or putting it another way, it is akin to the police telling you that if you do not have a thousand dollars to pay them, they will assume that you are lying and refuse to take your case seriously.

Isn't this just stepping towards feudal style private justice for those who can afford. Two laws, one for the rich, one for the poor.
I really don't know what to say about this. I'm fairly sure the US can afford a police force if everyone else in the world can.

That's life in the US to be honest.

As to the rape-kit, I'd rather pay that with taxes - I'm willing to pay more sales tax, property tax, income tax, or whatever it needs to be to cover the costs of using those kits. It's a small price to pay even if some are lying when they report a rape - there's too many real rapes that go unreported in this country to give women (or men) another excuse not to report the most heinous invasion of personal space.

False reporting may be a problem, but under-reporting is a bigger problem by far. Forcing victims to pay for their own exams only makes that worse.

The intent was to make it so less false reports are filed, but I see absolutely no logic in discouraging actual rape victims due to insufficient monetary funds being a good thing.

I say that the payment should depend on the results of the test. If negative, make em pay. If positive pay out of county/state/gov money.

I would only agree to this if the victems got to decide the punishment of the people who raped them.

This doesn't sound like a new thing, but it was something I was totally unaware of.

It's really bizzare to hear about stuff like this... I mean, I envision two morons literally butting heads growling at each other, and that's the legal system right there.

There are several improvements to the legal system I would've made. For example, upon the entry of someones property, you forfeit your right to file any form of lawsuit against them. My earlier suggestion would be among these improvements.

I'm pretty sure the rape percentage would go down with the kinds of punishments the victems can think of.

From what it seems, the money for the rape cases in NC are coming from civil cases after everything is said and done. It still doesn't make any sense for people to be victimized for something so horrifying as this.

The only thing I would want to see is how are the govn. officials going to ask people to take rape cases but charge them for something they didn't want in the first place?

I'm confused. What's there to protect those who are incapable of paying? Is it okay to rape people who can't pay the fees now? I've got no idea what they intend to do with this law.

The idea is that making them pay for their own kits would cut down on costs. And hey that's a totally great idea if you completely ignore that this is based on rape and victim protection.

The poor might as well say "Nah I wasn't victemized, it was pleasant." It would have the same effect as charging people for being raped, which is what their doing...

Huh, so this was the arbitrary hospital costs I've heard about from situations like these. Well isn't that just unambiguously awful.

How about build one less smart bomb?

You know, of all the things in the entire world I would never, ever dream of people being charged for, it's rape kits.

I'm not even sure what there is to discuss on this other than what should be our total outrage and disgust.

Okay, government. Let's...let's please subsidize rape kits. I know it's asking a lot, but if you think about it, it might make sense, y'know, in some sort of ethical, compassionate, not-a-fucking-monster way.