Posted on 09/12/2008 4:47:05 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
A few points to consider when you hear about the town of Wasilla, and its egregious former policy of charging rape victims for rape kits, a topic USA Today examined today.
1. It is indeed a terrible policy to charge a rape victim for the cost of collecting evidence to prosecute. But these charges occur, even in places where the law theoretically bans it. According to a 2008 U.S. News and World Report article, some Illinois rape victims are still being charged for the rape kits.
The state seemed to address this in a 2001 law, but it would seem that as usual, passing a law and getting a bureaucracy to comply are two different things.
2. Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella told USA Today in an e-mail that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test." Her critics can legitimately ask why, as mayor, she didn’t overrule her police chief. But they cannot charge that she supported the policy. In fact, there is not yet any evidence that Palin was aware of this policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at campaignspot.nationalreview.com ...
I wonder if the MSM has not twisted this, and it is really the perpetrators, not the victims who pay for this.
That would seem fair to me.
In some cases, the perp is unknown. many of these kits are completed "on speculation" that there will be a rape charge (e.g., allegations of a date rape incident), because the evidence is lost otherwise.
SENATOR BARRY'S STATE!!!
Oh, for crying out loud. These people don’t know when to quit.
Let me get this right. Governor Palin is supporting rapists, now. Have I got that right?
Well lets say I am shot. I go to the E.R. and they put me back together. They will charge for their services? Of course they will. It is what they went to school 25 years for.
A significant number of kits are deployed without the victim making a complaint to the police. At any rate, I agree that victims of crime shouldn't bear the cost.
I haven't studied the issue in depth, but based on it popping up in this race, learned that the "victim pays" arrangement is not uncommon. I suppose a core issue is "at what point does the incident become 'rape'?"
"Why is Palin pro-rape? There must be a Rape lobby in Juneau."I left out the expletives."I heard she did this so she could claim rape statistics went down while she was mayor."
"... there is not yet any evidence that Palin was aware of this policy."
Wow another stupid smear that I hadn't heard before. The Dems keep digging the hole deeper.
"Sometimes the issue of actually having to make a report to police can be a barrier to victims, and this will allow that barrier to cease, to allow the victim to think about it before deciding whether to talk to police," ...
I'm surprised you had anything left to quote.
Actually, though, it's the LEFT that's pro-rape. They'll do everything they can to make sure a 13 yr old girl impregnated by an adult can get an abortion in private without any investigation or reporting so that she can go back to her rapist to be victimized some more.
?????? What the....?
There are no words to describe the idiocy from the left. All the words have been exhausted.
The complete absence of thought = any liberal.
This makes you want to start your own smear, like:
Why is the man with the muslim faith a closet homosexual.
For those who have insurance (is that just a thousand or so? /sarc) wouldn’t medical insurance cover this cost? It is just the states’ way of trying to get others to kick in some of the cost. If the rape victim is shot or stabbed, isn’t she billed for the medical care, too?
My point exactly and I like the sarcasm. Of course you meant all the ILLEGAL uninsured. LOL
In retrospect, that sound bite about the difference between a mayor and a community activist was a big mistake — it leaves her stuck taking responsibility for everybody in the town’s government down to and including the City Hall janitor.
To be fair, I’m sure it wasn’t her idea to bash community activists. She was just reading the speech that was given her.
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