The Forensic Nurse

Many people know that the color of your skin can have an effect on almost every aspect of your life. But what about being raped?

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing have released a new study that shows dramatic results when it comes to identifying injuries that may have occurred during a sexual assault depending on the color of the victims skin.

The Researchers conducted a study of 120 volunteers who were predominatly white or african-american and conducted examinations after they had engaged in consentual sex. They found that 68% of the white women had incurred at least one external injury (tearing, abrasions, or swelling), but only 43% of the darker skinned women showed the same levels of injury.

Because physical injury as a result of sexual assualt is usually the exception rather than the norm, being able to clearly show an injury often has a positive effect on people “believing” the victims story.

Being a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner or SANE, I have heard countless times from law enforcement officers, social workers, other nurses, and even the victims own family members that they dont believe the victims story.

Sexual Assualts usually happen one on one, in a private setting with no other witnesses, cameras, or other ways to try and help determine if the sex was consentual or not.

Because most of these cases come down to a he said / she said scenario the ability to produce accurate forensic evidence is critical. There may or may not be DNA evidence and if injuries are harder to detect on darker skinned victims that puts them at a distinct disadvantage both clinically and in the criminal justice system.

Drug Faciliated sexual assaults are unfortunately a common happening in america and around the world. This video tells the story of a young woman’s experierence on a date with a friend which she had known for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqF9ciGaEpI

Ways you can try to protect yourself from being slipped a drug:

• Never Accept Drinks from a stranger
• Never accept an open drink
• Never lose sight of your drink
• If you leave the table or area where your drink is, take it with you.
• if you forget to take your drink with you, get a new one
• Have trusted friends with you to help keep an eye out
• If your drink has a strange odor or color, throw it away.
• Know your limits.

President Bush has approved the U.S. Army’s request to execute a soldier convicted of rape and murder. If this sentenance is carried out, it will mark the first execution of a military member since 1961.

Private  Ronald Gray has been on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since 1988. The crimes occured nearly two decades ago.  Gray was convicted of raping and killing a female Army private and a civilian near his post at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Another conviction stems from the rape and attempted murder of another fellow soldier in her barracks at Fort Bragg.

Currently, there is no execution date set, and it is expected that there will be several appeals. President Bush was govenor of Texas for 152 executions.

10 year old Nujood Ali claims her ex-husband repeatedly beat and raped her during their brief marriage. The ten year old was part of an arranged marriage in the country of Yemen. 

Nujood’s parents married her off in February to a man in his 30s whom the child described as “old and ugly”.  Her parents were apparently promised that “he wouldn’t go near her until she was 20″.  A promise that did not prove to be true. In the few months that they two were married, the 10 year old girl was repeatedly abused sexually, phyisically, and emotionally.

Arranged marriages are very common in Yemen. It is not uncommon at all for girls to be forced into a marriage to an older man who may even already have one or more wives already. The country’s legal minimum age for marriage was 15 till a decade ago, when the law was changed to allow for children even younger to be wed.

Nujood got her divorce, but based on the principles of Islamic Sharia law, her husband was compensated, not prosecuted. Nujood was ordered to pay him more than $200. The human rights lawyer who represented her donated the money.

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The US Supreme court has ruled today that child rapists cannot be put to death. In essense stating that capital punishment is reserved only for murders.

The case is based on Lousiana man Patrick Kennedy, who was sentanced to death for the rape of his 8 year old step-daughter.  The case drew national attention due to the unusual sentancing. Kennedy if put to death would have been the first time in 44 years for a criminal to be put to death in a case when the victim was not also killed.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that “evolving standards of decency” in the United States forbid capital punishment for any crime other than murder. Execution of Patrick Kennedy, the justices ruled, would be unconstitutional.

Ex-convict Robert Williams was found guilty Tuesday in the rape, torture, and attempted murder of a Columbia University graduate student who survived 19 hours of physical cruelty in which he scalded her with boiling water and attempted to blind her before trying to burn her to death.

“The woman told teary jurors that Williams repeatedly raped and sodomized her, scalded her with boiling water, threw bleach at her eyes in an attempt to blind her and slit her eyelids during the excruciating torture ”

“The verdict followed a gruesome trial that included dramatic testimony from the victim, who said Williams, 31, made her swallow fistfuls of painkillers, ordered her to gouge out her eyes with scissors, sealed her lips with super glue and gagged her with duct tape before torching her apartment.”

Book Description
An inmate, incarcerated for the rape of seventy-five women, reveals in an interview that if his victims had simply put a pair of old construction boots at the front door, he would have passed by and never even considered them as potential targets. The grieving father of a murdered seventeen-year-old woman admits that he should have been more involved in his daughter’s life and paid attention to the “friends” in her immediate circle.Most of us only half-listen to the public service announcements about safety in the home. We lock our doors at night, but do little else to change habits that may make us the next victims of the dangerous individuals who are always on the watch for their next opportunity.

This book takes readers through the mindset of predatory criminals–their motives, various plans of attack, and way of thinking–and then teaches simple lifestyle techniques that will help reduce the risk of becoming victimized. Criminal behavior specialists Greg Cooper and Mike King provide expert analysis based on real-life cases, in addition to moving insights from victims and criminals themselves. The authors make the point that the people who commit these crimes aren’t much different from the predators of the wild, preying on the weak and unsuspecting. What makes these individuals more dangerous than their instinctive wildlife counterparts, however, is that they consciously choose to inflict their will on the more vulnerable members of their own species. To protect our loved ones and ourselves requires that we truly educate ourselves about the predators who live in our society and then take appropriate action. This excellent, in-depth study will help readers lead safer lives.

About the Author
Gregory M. Cooper (American Fork, UT) is an investigative support services manager for Motorola Inc. Formerly, he worked as Assistant Federal Security Director for Law Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; as the police chief of Provo, Utah; and as a unit chief and criminal profiler for the FBI.

Michael R. King (Ogden, UT) is a product planning manager and senior investigative analyst for Motorola. He is a former State Attorney General Chief of Staff and intelligence supervisor for the Utah Criminal Intelligence Center, Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security.

Tom McHoes (Springville, UT) is a freelance journalist who was previously a crimes/investigative reporter for the Provo Daily Herald and The Roseville Press-Tribune.

http://www.amazon.com/Predators-Who-They-Stop-Them/dp/1591025060?ie=UTF8

This week is a historic week for the american judicial system.  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case about Kennedy vs Louisiana , in an attempt to determine whether it is “cruel and unusual punishment” to execute someone who is convicted of child rape. The last execution of a rapist whose offense did not include murder was in 1964.

Patrick Kennedy, age 43,  is on Louisianas’ death row for the 2003 rape of his 8 year old stepdaughter,who initially lied to the police and said she had been assaulted by two boys in her garage and later recanted. Currently the only person in the United States on death row for a rape that did not include murder.

There are currently five states with laws on the books that allow the capital punishment of an individual for the rape of a child under the age of 12; Lousiana, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas and South Carolina.

Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa. He admitted to forcing the girl down on the ground and kissing her, but has denied raping her.

Hadnott was released when the girls family asked to have the charges dropped. No word yet on if he may face any addtional charges and/or disiplince from the US military.

As if being sexually assualted isn’t bad enough, in some instances victims are billed for the forensic medical exam used to collect evidence against their attacker.

In order to qualify for federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),  every state must assume the full out of pocket costs for forensic medical examinations.

The cost of collecting and processing the evidence collection kit varies widely from location to location and from state to state. Some may be as little as a few hundred dollars and others may range into the several thousands of dollars.

The billing process isnt nationally standardized either. Some centers may bill the insurance company directly, some may attempt to collect from the victims compensation act funds, and yet still others may bill the victim to cover some or all of the fees.

 Definitions under VAWA: For the purpose of the VAWA requirement, the term “forensic medical examination” means “an examination provided to a sexual assault victim by medical personnel trained to gather evidence of a sexual assault in a manner suitable for use in a court of law” According to regulations of the STOP Program, the exam should include, at a minimum, i) examination of physical trauma; ii) determination of penetration or force; iii) patient interview; and iv) collection and evaluation of evidence. The inclusion of additional procedures (e.g., testing for STIs) to obtain evidence may be determined by the State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local government in accordance with its current laws, policies, and practices.

By regulation, “full out-of-pocket cost” means “any expense that may be charged to a victim in connection with a medical forensic examination for the purpose of gathering evidence of a sexual assault” Examples of such expenses may include the full cost of the exam or a fee established by the facility conducting the exam. Often, medical services that are not related to evidence gathering will not be covered by this requirement.

Related Articles:

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-and-money/2008/02/21/rape-victims-can-be-hurt-financially-too.html

http://samfe.dna.gov/overarching_issues/payment/>