The rape kit backlog, five years later
In the summer of 2013, Memphis leaders confirmed the existence of more than 12,000 stored rape kits. Roughly half contained forensic evidence that had not been seen by a laboratory.
Nearly five years later, all of those kits have been inventoried and examined and are either tested or in labs awaiting testing. Now we face the long years of work to use those kits to convict rapists and make our communities safer.
Police have initiated 2,928 investigations, closed 2,232 (for various reasons from suspect deceased to no rape occurred) and are pursuing 696 as new DNA “hits” roll in. Prosecutors have requested indictments on 312 suspects – 186 by name and 119 as “John Does” to stop the statute of limitations clock.
Among the suspects, 51 are implicated in multiple cases. As of late April, prosecutors had closed 78 cases with 52 guilty pleas or verdicts.
Years before Memphis confronted decades of failure to fully respond to victims of sexual violence.
Mayor AC Wharton appointed a multiagency task force to oversee funding testing of all stored kits, training and changing policies to prevent future backlog, adequate support for victim-centered investigation and prosecution of all old cases and community outreach to rebuild trust and bolster services
#MeToo,
for survivors.
From grocery checkout lines to church pews and book club suppers, Memphians began to talk about rape.
A tragic and terrible subject was pulled into focus where we could talk about why it happens and how to respond to rapists and those who are raped.
From its beginning in December 2013, the task force was guided by understanding that
The messages are simple but powerful, and for three years they have dared people across Memphis to change how they think and act:
Memphis Says NO MORE “she was asking for it.” NO MORE “he said he was sorry.” NO MORE “well, she was drunk” or “What was she wearing?” NO MORE “not my problem.” NO MORE “boys will be boys.” Since June 2015, Memphis Says NO MORE has peppered the city’s storefronts, churches, bulletin boards, school hallways, city buses, airport screens and the Internet with wellknown in the vast majority of these crimes, a woman or girl’s body is the crime scene.
Thanks to our Rape Crisis Center, a hub of forensic services, nursing care and counseling for rape survivors for more than 40 years, and MPD’s policy of retaining all evidence, Memphis had stored kits dating to the late 1970s. local faces and compelling messages in the campaign against domestic violence and sexual assault.
From the FedEx Forum jumbotron to TV ads, in medical clinics and judo gyms, the goal is the same: to change attitudes while connecting survivors of these traumatic crimes to help and healing. It’s working. As we note the third anniversary of its launch this weekend, Memphis Says NO MORE’s messaging is making measurable change in local attitudes about these crimes, victims, batterers and sex criminals and what we can each do to make our city safer.
In addition, the campaign is sparking
new partnerships to equip teens, youth and men to nurture healthy relationships and foster an end to the violence.
Memphis Says NO MORE is the only local campaign in the country that drew on the national NO MORE awareness project to create a full range of messages and survivor outreach.
The intent is always to deliver information on resources so the posters, palm-sized cards, wristbands – everything directs people to the website to find local resources for victims/survivors.
Before #MeToo and Memphis Says NO MORE urged survivors to break the silence, to speak out for help and healing, and asked each of us to listen, believe and stand with survivors.
The campaign is the work of the Memphis Area Women’s Council and the Memphis Sexual Assault Kit Task Force. The multi-agency task force was appointed by Mayor A C Wharton in late 2013 to respond to the city’s inventory of more than 12,000 stored rape kits, about half of which had no lab analysis.
#TimesUp,
The Memphis group sought advice from the Joyful Heart Foundation in New York, founded by actress Mariska Hargitay, and added its representatives to the task force. JHF experts were already working with Cleveland and Detroit officials to address rape kit testing backlogs and in March 2013 had fostered a national anti-violence campaign called NO MORE.
When the Memphis team was ready to work on prevention and awareness, localizing the NO MORE campaign made sense. We invited local leaders and survivors to pose for photographs and to talk on camera about their own experience around DV and sexual assault.
We built a website loaded with resources to get help to victims/survivors, produced videos and public service announcements, created a logo button, printed thousands of palm-sized resource cards, T-shirts and posters.
Memphis Says NO MORE became a key partner in the annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes rally where men and boys are asked to stride in women’s shoes and carry signs proclaiming their support of women’s safety against battering and rape. In 2017 more than 200 participated.
The MSNM campaign shifted to another level in the second year when four star players – Tony Allen, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph – plus the coach and general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies gamely donned black T-shirts and stern expressions for posters that we spread all around the city, in the airport, police stations, 20 MATA buses, restaurants and more.
Volunteers took MSNM materials to General Sessions courts, church and college events, Grizzlies games, hospitals and health fairs, summer camps, middle and high schools, libraries and clinics and the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Blue Suede Shoe Brigade. We offered them to every workplace and eatery in Shelby County and spoke at civic clubs and groups from Frayser to Hickory Hill. Ads ran on WMC-TV and WYPL TV and radio.
Criminal justice experts at the University of Memphis and marketing experts at Splash Creative evaluated the campaign in focus groups and surveys.
Victim blaming softened. After the campaign, more respondents said that women do not bring DV and rape on themselves, are not asking for trouble when wearing sexy clothes, staying out late or drinking too much.
But research also showed that 23 to 43 percent of respondents did not disagree with those statements.
The next phase of the campaign will deepen messaging against sexual harassment and toward teens, youth, men and Spanish-speaking communities.
We will heed the voices of young survivors with Bridge Builders eager to arm their peers against abuse.
We will partner with producers of Mempho Music Festival in October to offer counseling and assistance in a safe zone and to rally men who are ready to stand up and stop rape jokes, stop a buddy who is about to harm a woman, stop themselves from losing control against those they should respect or claim to love.
Pledge to support survivors, to seek help for yourself or a loved one and to spread the NO MORE messages far and wide. Visit memphissaysnomore.com today.
Memphis Says NO MORE is teaching us that attitudes can be changed by information and awareness – and that we have more to teach and to learn.
Deborah M. Clubb is executive director of the Memphis Area Women’s Council, coordinator of Memphis Says NO MORE and a member of the Memphis Sexual Assault Kit Task Force.