Taking Victims Seriously

Published September 29, 2009 @ 05:06AM PT

The Philadelphia Inquirer today praised the Philadelphia Police Department for improving the way it treats victims of sexual assault, marking a complete turnaround from ten years ago. It's rare the a media outlet will praise a police department when it does something right, so kudos to the Inquirer for sending kudos to the cops.

Ten years ago, the Inquirer hammered the police for allowing investigations of sexual assaults to slide, for treating victims callously and for generally not taking rapes seriously. It led to a harsh national spotlight and sweeping reforms, including another look at hundreds of cold cases. The reforms are ongoing, but today's story shows that a lot has changed:

Watching Philadelphia Police Capt. John Darby talk to reporters last month about the rape of a jogger near Forbidden Drive, Carol Tracy sat before the television, slack-jawed.

She couldn't believe how sensitive he seemed.

Police had no suspect. The victim had been unwilling to sit with detectives.

"He said he understood how traumatic this event was for the victim, and that he hoped she would be in a place where she would be able to speak to police in a short time," recalled Tracy, who directs the Women's Law Project. "He understood the trauma of the event was having a devastating impact on her."

Philadelphia wasn't alone in having problems a decade ago in the way it treated rape victims. Many cities have come a long way since the turn of the 21st century, but some are still on their way.

I've written before about Los Angeles' problem with untested rape kits. Shortages of qualified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) trouble many hospitals -- including this understaffed facility in Kansas that last week asked two victims to travel to another hospital to be examined.

There's plenty more to be done, but it's refreshing to see Philadelphia's vast improvement get the recognition it deserves.

Philly story via PoliceOne

Share this Post

Comments (2)

I can't believe it! Finally, a post that is about victim's rights and applauds the efforts of law enforcement. I almost fell out of my chair! It's long overdue, but very refreshing to see. Hopefully this will be the first of many (or at least a few more). Good job on this one Matt.

Posted by Dennis G. on 09/29/2009 @ 10:03AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 2 people like this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Dennis
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Thank you for posting this story! It doesn't surprise me that it was in Philadelphia-- The City of Brotherly love has considerable experience and lengthy history of rewriting the public record and Blaming the Victim.

I recently came across a site that actually calls the bombing in West Philadelphia a mass suicide. (MOVE in 1985) Unbelievable! [The Guinness World Records Mislabels MOVE Organization Murders as Mass Suicide: http://is.gd/4HeSw]

Totally with you on this.... Blaming the victim is not only unacceptable, it creates a culture of silence and contributes to community and bystander apathy. http://is.gd/4He3X

Enough is enough.

Posted by Elyssa Durant on 10/29/2009 @ 08:33AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Elyssa
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.