Controversies Surrounding the Rape Kit Exam in the 1980s: Issues and Alternatives

Abstract

Based on a study of 130 organizations in Florida that deal with survivors of sexual assault, controversies that surround the “rape kit exam”—medical examination for purposes of evidence collection—are identified and discussed. After an overview of the rape kit examination and typical sites and personnel for performing it, the article focuses on issues relative to the exam including the following: (1) evidence that should be collected and why; (2) hospitals as friends or foes; and (3) who can and/or should perform the exam and why. The article concludes with recommendations for improving services to survivors of sexual assault relative to the rape kit exam. Among these are suggestions for standardizing the rape kit and protocol across legal jurisdictions, ceasing routine plucking of victims' public hairs, removal of the site for the exams from hospital emergency departments or creation of separate sections of the department for the sole use of rape victims, simplification and reduction of hospital admitting and record-keeping procedures, centralization of the exam for given geographic areas, specialization of staff who perform the exam, and utilization of trained nurse examiners in place of physicians for conducting the exam.

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