Posted on 05/20/2010 11:21:18 PM PDT by Libloather
Congress Hears Dramatic Rape Kit Testimony
Outraged Congressman Offers to Pay for Rape Kit Testing Following CBS Investigation
By Armen Keteyian
WASHINGTON, May 20, 2010
(CBS) Last fall, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reported rapists nationwide are getting away with their crimes, because tens of thousands of rape kits are going untested. The issue reached Capitol Hill Thursday, and the outrage was loud and clear.
The star of the hearing turned out to be the central figure in our rape kit investigation, Valerie Neumann.
Neumann testified how her 21st birthday ended in rape. One nightmare was followed by another.
**SNIP**
Actress Mariska Hargitay, who plays a sex crimes detective on television's "Law and Order, SVU" also testified. She offered emotional evidence of how, in real life, thousands of rape victims have reached out to her for help.
"I remember my breath going out of me when the first letter came," Hargitay said.
She turned into an advocate for breaking the backlog in untested kits.
"They must all be tested. We are consciously letting criminals walk again," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
She’s hot (and one of very few actresses/actors who have gotten better looking as she gets older), but she’s an actor!
She isn’t a cop in RL. Her reading letters lend them no more credence than if she read Shakespeare’s sonnets.
She was asleep in the back seat when the car rear-ended a truck and killed her mother, the driver and her mother's attorney.
She is, however, an activist in support of sexually abused women, volunteers as a rape crisis counselor, and dumps lots of money into her non-profit foundation for said causes.
May not be a cop, but is a concerned public figure.
I didn't realize that. Thanks for that little tidbit of information. She certainly is a pretty woman, and a pretty good actress, too.
And the letters that she read were personally sent to her by rape victims
Although I usually cringe whenever an actor pushes an issue....I think Mariska Hargitay is actually doing a real good public service....especially when most Hollywood types are defending criminals and crime....there is actually someone trying to help those victimized by crime.
There is major back-log of rape kit analysis nationwide....and it only helps the criminals as justice is delayed.
Mariska is doing something noble, and its good that an actor is using their influence and celebrity for something good. We could use more like Mariska instead of Sean “Dictator Boy” Penn
Normally I hold to the “shut up and sing” school of thought when it comes to celebs, but she’s not claiming to be an expert on crime, she’s reading letters written to her. She could have a 90 IQ and those letters would still be pertinent and appropriate.
Of course, that doesn’t excuse the fact that SVU and the rest of the L&O franchise are a big pile of propagandist fecal matter.
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