Untested Sexual Assault Kits

• Date: 01 May 2016
• Author: Cassia Spohn
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12212
• Published date: 01 May 2016

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

RAPE KIT TESTING

Untested Sexual Assault Kits

A National Dilemma

Cassia Spohn

Arizona State University

The existence of large numbers of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in jurisdictions

throughout the United States and the policy debate over whether kits in cases

involving strangers should be prioritized over those in cases involving nonstrangers

are emblematic of long-standing concerns about the response of the criminal justice system

to the crime of sexual assault. Despite evidence that the typical sexual assault is committed

by someone the victim knows, cases involving strangers—that is, the so-called “real rapes”

(Estrich, 1987)—are prioritized over those in which victims are assaulted by acquaintances,

friends, and intimate partners. As Brownmiller (1975) noted 40+years ago, the stereotypes

and myths surrounding sexual assault and the laws and practices based on these stereotypes

and myths make it likely that only a few who commit this crime of violence will be held

accountable and that the few who are held accountable will not be representative of the

many who engage in this type of criminal behavior.

The controversy surrounding untested SAKs also is part of a larger contemporary

debate regarding the treatment of sexual assault and its victims. Questions have been raised

about the handling of sexual assaults within the context of intimate relationships and about

the system’s response to sexual assaults on college campuses and in the military. Critics have

charged that the legal reforms implemented during the rape reform movement of the 1970s

and 1980s—changes in the definition of rape, elimination of resistance and corroboration

requirements, and adoption of rape shield laws—did not produce the instrumental changes

anticipated by reformers (Marsh, Geist, and Caplan, 1982; Spohn and Horney, 1992). As a

result, the stereotypes and myths surrounding sexual assault still influence how sexual assault

cases are handled and police and prosecutors continue to prioritize cases characterized as

“legitimate rapes” involving “righteous victims” (Spohn and Tellis, 2014).

Direct correspondence to Cassia Spohn, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University,

411 N. Central Ave, Suite 600, Phoenix, AZ 85004 (e-mail: Cassia.Spohn@asu.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12212 C2016 American Society of Criminology 551

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 15 rIssue 2