Did you know, that right now, all across the country, there are thousands of rape kits sitting untested in storage rooms? And they aren’t waiting in line to be tested, they’re just sitting there. Because law enforcement decided the case wasn’t worth following, or budgeting won’t allow it. In this same country, people sit and watch hours of Law & Order SVU. We watch these crimes being solved, crimes that a disclaimer says aren’t based off real events or real people, but we all know that these crimes happen all too frequently. We cheer when Detective Olivia Benson and crew solve their latest rape case, but we don’t cry out that real men and women aren’t seeing the same justice.
Why are we, as a society, so fascinated with rape when it’s portrayed by popular media, but not when it happens in our hometowns, college dorms and neighborhoods? Beyond that, we make excuses when rape happens. She was drinking too much, she was wearing a short skirt, or she was known to be sexually promiscuous. Olivia Benson doesn’t stand for that shit and neither should we. Rape happens to one in four women. Every 107 seconds another American is sexually assaulted. And yet, there are rape kits, sitting, waiting to be tested and used to bring perpetrators to justice. Just collecting dust in dark storage units.
According to rain.org, out of every 100 cases of sexual assault, only two rapists go to jail. Those are not good statistics, and if Law & Order SVU were true to the facts, the show probably wouldn’t be as fun to watch. I get that. And no disrespect to SVU, because I love that show. I basically watch it on the daily, but we need to focus on the issues of sexual assault that face real American every single day.
And I get it, there are other crimes happening too that deserve the attention of our law enforcement officers. But according to this, someone is arrested every 51 seconds for marijuana possession. Not that I advocate possession of an illegal substance, but I feel like some dude who wants to smoke a joint should be a little lower on the “we must catch this criminal” totem pole. And I say that with much respect to our law enforcement officers. The brave men and women who put on a uniform everyday put themselves in danger to make sure we live in a safer world. I just don’t get why catching rapists isn’t a higher priority. If it was, wouldn’t we be testing all these rape kits? Recently, New York tested thousands of their untested rape kits and (spoiler alert) they actually caught the people responsible! So it’s literally been shown that if we test these kits, we will be able to find and prosecute rapists. And a study recently done with repeat rapists showed that on average, each repeat rapist commits almost six rapes. So, if we catch one guy, we probably solve multiple cases. This sounds to me like it’s a win win type of situation.
So, all I suggest is that we still watch Law & Order SVU obsessively, because it’s fantastic. But also spend a little more time caring about crimes getting solved in real life. Doesn’t everyone deserve the peace of mind Detective Benson and her team bring to our TVs?
