CBS News recently concluded a five month investigation into why rape kits (the swabs from body cavities and pieces of clothing worn at the time of the attack) are left to gather dust on the shelves. The results are infuriating:

At least twelve major American cities: Anchorage, Baltimore, Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Oakland, Phoenix, San Diego said they have no idea how many of rape kits in storage are untested.

Police departments told us rape kits don't get tested due to cost - up to $1,500 a kit — a decision not to prosecute, and victims who recant or are unwilling to move forward with a case.

Some salient points about rape culture are also made in the piece:

Psychologist David Lisak from the University of Massachusetts has spent twenty years studying the minds of rapists.

"Somehow all we can do is take the statement from the victim. Take the statement from the alleged perpetrator and then throw up our hands because they are saying conflicting things," he said. "That's not how we investigate other crimes." [...]

"Predators look for vulnerable people and they prey on vulnerable people," Lisak said. "And if, as a criminal justice system, we're going to essentially turn from any victim who was drinking or any victim who was in some way vulnerable - we're essentially giving a free pass to sexual predators."

Thankfully, many districts are waking up to the fact that this issue needs both attention and resources. Oakland, New York City, and Los Angeles are leading the charge to eliminate backlog and process the kits quickly and efficiently.

The results are stunning. Today New York City's arrest rate for rape is 70 percent - triple the national average.

There can be hope for the estimated 160,000 women who are raped each year to experience justice. All it takes is for states to prioritize our issues.

Exclusive: Rape in America: Justice Denied [CBS News]

• A woman from Arizona may be forced to fly more than 300 miles away from her hometown to give birth, because her local hospital insists she must have a c-section. Joy Szabo had a c-section for her last child, and the hospital claims that doing a vaginal birth after a c-section is too risky. •  According to a British study, less than 33% of men wash their hands with soap after going to the bathroom. In order to increase the number of hand-washers, researchers suggest placing messages above bathroom sinks, which either shame the person into washing, or gross them out ("Soap it off or eat it later"). •  A man from the UK - who the Daily Mail dubs "Cruel Graeme Conroy" - has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for forcing a 3-year-old girl to smoke cigarettes. Conroy had a 14-year-old girl film him while he forced the young child to chain smoke five cigarettes, "as a joke." •  A Missouri ninth-grader has been arrested for making a website that called a classmate a "slut" and said she "would be better off if she just died." Missouri is cracking down on cyber-bullying after Megan Meier's suicide. • A woman who was raped as a 13-year-old is speaking out against rape kit backlogs after her kit sat untested for twenty years, much longer than the statute of limitations for her case. • A Berlin brothel is offering an "eco discount" to johns who walk or bike there. • PUMA Amy Siskind says "President Obama seems largely tone-deaf to women and women's issues," and praises the Republican party for "promising stars" like Sarah Palin. • But Jimmy Carter is bullish on Obama, saying that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize "as much as anyone who's ever gotten it for his achievement already," and that "he's spelled out an agenda that can be adopted by others in Europe and around the world to lead toward increased peace and human rights and the alleviation of suffering. Those are all tangible contributions - even though the fulfillment of all of them has got to require time to realize." •

Muslim groups have been protesting the law, calling it the "work of the devil. One of their main objections is that the law redefines marriage as a secular institution. Women's rights groups are "heartbroken" over the announcement. • A study suggests that girls as young as 10 and 11 already feel pressure from the notion of an "ideal body." They also found that, among the girls they studied, those who perceived themselves as thin were happier with their bodies than those who saw themselves as heavy. • An art exhibition opening this month in Beijing will feature a talking Mona Lisa, among other high-tech things. Using holographic technology, 3D technology, and voice recognition software, several classic artworks will engage visitors in conversation. The exhibition will also feature "The Last Supper," for those who want a word with Jesus. • The glass-topped coffin of Emitt Till has been donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, the museum announced yesterday. Till's coffin was recently rescued from the Burr Oak Cemetery outside Chicago, where it had been thrown into a storage shed and was found in very poor condition. • A woman from West Africa has been arrested for running a human trafficking ring that forced women to work in salons braiding hair in New Jersey. The girls, aged 10-19, were not paid for their labor, and were forbidden from making friends or learning English. • In attempts to avoid a repeat of the riots at London's Group of 20 conference in April, the British police force has decided to ask women to take the reigns this year. The logic is that policewomen see their job as "public service," while policemen view it as "controlling through authority." • According to a new survey, everyone is so broke that no one really wants to volunteer. These findings go against all the anecdotal evidence that unemployed volunteers, high on Obama-fever, were flooding the offices of nonprofit groups. • The number of Canadians suffering from hip fractures has declined in the past few years, and researchers believe that this might have been caused by the extra "padding" caused by weight gain. If this were a women's magazine, I would probably say something about how your bigger booty may help you bounce back, but it isn't, so I wont. • Researchers from the University of Iowa have found that women with strong thigh muscles are less likely to have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. • Curious about what your pet sees on a day to day basis? Buy this "Pet's Eye View" camera to get a nice picture of your own ankles. • Following recent attacks on school girls in Pakistan, many girls have refused to wear their uniforms to school, and even more have stopped attending completely. A group of students from Stanford University have organized a program, called Tree of Knowledge, to address the issue. • 19 years ago, Jaycee Lee Dugard, then only 11 years old, was abducted from her home in California. Police have finally identified Dugard, but only after she walked into a police station and announced her identity. They are currently in the process of arranging a meeting with her family. • L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yarovslavksy has announced that the LA Sheriffs Department will completely fund the testing of every backlogged rape kit within the next two years. They have also pledged to expand staff to ensure that a backlog like this will never happen again. •

The State of Texas currently has over 66 million dollars in its Crime Victims Compensation Fund, but refuses to allow any of that money to go to rape victims until all other means of paying for the kits are exhausted. "The legislature set it up that way," says Attorney General spokesman Jerry Strickland.

"I know what it's like to be raped," writes Cara of Feministe, "But I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be raped and then charged a ridiculous sum of money as a direct result. I can't imagine what it's like to be raped and then be billed for it several months later. It absolutely churns my stomach, though. The victim featured in this case has had her bills dropped by the hospital as a result of the media attention. But how many women have not gone to the media and just paid? How many didn't go the media and had their credit ruined because they couldn't pay? And how many will fall into both categories after this point?"

Kelly Young of the Houston Area Women's Center says the issue is more about a lack of proper processing and information than anything else: "They're not dotting the Is and crossing the Ts to make sure that the person who was victimized does not have to re-live it six months later because they get a bill," Young says, "There may be lots of survivors who have this happen and we don't know because they don't know that they shouldn't be getting the bills. A lot of people aren't going to ask. They're just going to go ahead and pay it and move forward with their lives. They don't want to keep re-living that experience.

Texas Hospitals Charging Sexual Assault Victims For Rape Detection Kits [Vancouver Sun]
Texas Charges Victims For Rape Kits [Feministe]
Texas Is Charging Rape Victims Who Cooperate With Police [ThinkProgress]
Rape Victim Billed For Evidence Costs [Click2Houston]

The documentary, Justice Delayed (it airs on PBS stations tomorrow night - check local listings) focuses on the situation in Los Angeles and examines why so many kits have been languishing in cold storage; what the department has done about it in the last year; and how far they still have to go. When New York City faced a similar problem years ago — 16,000 untested rape kits — it took four years and a boatload of money and new hiring (did anyone say "economic stimulus"?) to reduce the backlog. That time and effort resulted in 2,000 cold hit arrests. Part of the problem, according to LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, is that there aren't enough (expensive-to-hire) skilled technicians to perform the tests, which involve replicating DNA in less-than-ideal circumstances and developing a genetic profile.

Kristof's column weighs in on the problem, too.

Stunningly often, the rape kit isn't tested at all because it's not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week).

So while we have breakthrough DNA technologies to find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren't using them properly - and those who work in this field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn't justice; it's indifference.

Well, that's all well and good — but not every case can be expedited without having the staff — and expediting one case for analysis pre-arrest might mean putting off another analysis required for trial (and pre-trial disclosure). When the supply of analysts is short and the demand is high, things are going to slip — and that's a resource, not an attitude, problem.

DNA testing is still a labor-intensive process that requires skilled labor and time, both of which are at a premium in assault investigations and, often, prosecutions. While efforts need to be made to reduce testing backlogs and the systemic problems that contribute to backlogs — including, goodness knows, attitudes about sexual assault and their prosecution — it's also important to talk about and work on the need to encourage more people (and, particularly women) to enter into these technical fields and for local, state and federal agencies to spend money on recruiting, training and keeping employed the very people whose work is so vital to getting these tests performed in a timely fashion.

Justice Delayed [NOW]
Is Rape Serious? [NY Times]

Earlier: LA Rape Kits Backlog
LAPD Allows Prosecution Deadline To Lapse For Hundreds Of Unexamined Rape Kits

• So, about the rape kits thing. Are you saying you didn't know what your hand-picked police chief was doing in a town of 5,000 people, or were you just fibbing about it?
• What is your exact position on comprehensive sex education?
• What is your position on teaching creationism in schools? How do you think evolution should be taught?
• Are Cole Haan boots that much more comfortable than, say, Naturalizer so as to justify the price tag?
• Why do you insist on teasing your hair up so much?
• Have you been to the part of Alaska that you can see Russia from?
• What does moose meat taste like?
• Please explain your enjoyment of aerial wolf hunting.
• Do you think you could have pulled off the Poehler rap?
• Why did you always hug John McCain at events, but never shake hands?
• Is there a reason that the Secret Service nicknamed your husband "Driller"?
• Do you really think it's a good idea to escalate tensions with Russia?
• Why do you think you've been involved in so many firing scandals when in executive office?
• Do you feel the coverage of you has been sexist? What in particular did you find sexist?
• Did you vote for Ted Stevens?
• What would you say to the girl in the rape survivor ad that felt she needed to have an abortion?
• Why did you end up attending so many different colleges?
• What about the campaign was the most unexpected to you?
• What's it like to own — at least briefly — $150,000 worth of clothes?
• Who was the biggest asshole in the McCain campaign, in your opinion?
• Do you really not believe in global warming?
• Name a community organizer you do respect.

What do you wish you could ask her, since you know she's coming back?

Katie Couric Corrects Sarah Palin On Reading Question [LA Times]

Earlier: Rachel Maddow: Sarah Palin "Is Lying To You — Enthusiastically And Repeatedly"
Debunking The Sarah Palin Rape Kit "Debunkers"
Palin Rap: "I Built Me A Bridge, It Ain't Going Nowhere!"
A Look At the Rape Survivor Ads Against McCain And Palin

The LAPD has failed in another substantial way when it comes to rape kits: they did not comply with a state law that says victims must be notified if their rape kits are not processed within a 2-year window. If authorities had made those notifications, the Times reports, the statute of limitations would have been extended. However, this is not just a local problem. 169,000 rapes nationwide have untested DNA evidence.

In an unsigned editorial, the Times places the blame at the feet of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has put what the paper feels is too much focus on getting more police officers on the street rather than attending to other vital police department needs, like rape kit examiners. "Hiring more officers remains a worthy goal, but it need not be done foolishly and with contempt for rape victims whose cases deserve attention," the editorial notes. "The City Council — and the LAPD — must make funding the necessary lab work a priority."

Earlier this year, Chief Bratton turned to the LA Police Foundation to raise private funds for rape kit examination, and he's raised $1.5 million so far. The website for the Police Foundation with information on how to make a contribution is here.

200 Sex Assault Cases Pass Prosecution Deadline Before LAPD Tested DNA Kits [LA Times]
The LAPD's 7,000 Victims Of Neglect [LA Times]

Earlier: Meet Sarah Tofte: Death Penalty Researcher Turned Rape Kit Activist
Crime And No Punishment

Like most things related to my sexual assault, it took me a couple of days to really understand why this makes me so uncomfortable. For one, as I've said before, my sexual assault is not someone else's political issue. It has nothing to do with Sarah Palin's view on emergency contraceptives (which suck), or who paid for my rape kit or whether I have the right to have an abortion. It just doesn't. It has a lot to do with how the system treated me, and continues to treat me, how the prosecutors and police department tore my life open and left me hanging and violated my Constitutional rights. I want those things fixed, because that's the only justice I'm ever going to see. Those things have nothing to do with this election, and Barack Obama isn't likely to get me justice any more than Sarah Palin is.

And, let's be frank, a lot of rape victims struggle with guilt, and struggle with saying "no." I have. And so if I was asked — by a friend, say, who works for the Obama campaign — I would have difficulty saying no. Because I am willing to talk about it, right? And I don't want McCain elected, right? And yet the whole time, I would be feeling uncomfortable and obligated because in my opinion, I've been attacked enough this year. So, I wouldn't want to be asked. I wouldn't want to be thought of. And I wouldn't find refusing easy. My point remains, as it did on Monday, that recruiting for what was an as-yet unscripted ad among women you don't know — as Kiersten Steward seemed to be doing when she said, "this is a big ask and I haven’t seen a script" — is not quite the same as asking women who are already willing to talk (or have, as part of speaker's bureaus) about their assaults. That women can or would volunteer to do so is great, and a testament to the courage of those women. But not everyone is there, and not everyone would know how to refuse.

On top of that, I have a little experience with how campaign ads use crime victims, from when Tom Tancredo's campaign appropriated the image of my close friend's murdered client for an ad of his own. I was so angry, and he (and her family) were even more livid. And the details of my sexual assault are as easily appropriated for causes I disagree with — immigration reform, say, or tougher sentences or more invasive sex offender registries. Where would it stop? I'm not sure it would. Using my sexual assault for this kind of political purpose, as Lindsay acknowledges, would be to open myself up for attack and — which is worse, to me, as I open myself up to personal attack every day I write — to lose what little control I have of how my story is told, when I am ready to tell it.

So, I acknowledge what Ann, Amanda and Lindsay have to say about having a real victim talk about their sexual assaults, and talk about the issues in the campaign, from who pays for rape kits to the necessity of offering victims access to emergency contraception — though, frankly, I think it's as disingenuous to suggest that Palin supports raping women as it is to suggest that Obama supports infanticide. But, for me, from my experience, I remain uncomfortable at the thought that my sexual assault and my politics would mean that someone would think to recruit me for a political ad. And I can't say that I'm super-pleased that so many people seemingly think I ought not to be.

On Recruiting Rape Survivors For Political Ads [Feministing]
Over the Line [Pandagon]
Obama Recruiting Rape Survivors for Campaign Ads [Firedoglake]
Palin Opens Up On Controversial Issues [CBS]
Obama Sought Rape Victim For Ad [Politico]
Tancredo Ad Writers Are Shitty Human Beings [Wonkette]

The National Review's Kathleen Parker, who we've already invited to move to Thailand, calls for Palin to drop out for the good of the party and the country. Naturally, she also says that all liberal feminists are part of a "hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood" — because, naturally, a feminist would never wear cute shoes or trim her bush, let alone shave her legs — but her point is that Sarah Palin is rather obviously out of her league in this contest. After watching Palin's interviews with Charlee Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric, Parker's response is: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." Ouch.

Then there's the New York Times "Editorial Observer" column, which takes Sarah Palin to task for the little rape kit thing she's refusing to talk about. Writer Dorothy Samuels comes to basically the same conclusion that I did — that Palin must have known, and that she did it in an orgy of Republican-y cost-cutting that Samuels calls "boneheaded." Samuels compares that to Joe Biden's sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act, which Samuels notes contained "provisions to make states ineligible for federal grant money if they charged rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies needed to conduct them." As far as Samuels is concerned, the voters deserve an explanation.

And as if that isn't enough, today, the Washington Post reports that Palin took $25,000 in gifts from various interests groups with issues before the legislature, causing the campaign to not respond with a denial (of course) and The Guardian digs into the nasty anti-Semitic leanings of the preachers and speakers at Palin's church. So, for the end of this week, Palin's an unqualified Republican who takes bribes, doesn't like Jews and is enthralled with cost-cutting to the point of amorality. That's not a good day.

Worst Of Sarah Palin's Katie Couric Interview (So Far) [Gawker]
More Painful Palin Excerpts From Couric Interview [Daily Kos]
Palin Problem [National Review]
Wasilla Watch: Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits [New York Times]
Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show [Washington Post]
Palin's Preacher Problem [The Guardian]

Fact: Sarah Palin fired Ira Stambaugh as Wasilla's police chief and hired Charlie Fallon.
No one disputes this, and the judge actually sided with Palin that she was well within her rights as mayor to fire and hire police chiefs.

Fact: Neither Palin's predecessor, John Stein, nor Fallon's predecessor, Irl Stambaugh, charged victims or their insurance companies for rape kits. It was only after Palin took office and installed Charlie Fallon as police chief that the $15,000 line item in the budget to pay for forensic rape examinations disappeared. Palin's spokespeople insist she had no knowledge, but budget documents reflect that she signed off on the recission.

Fact: In 2000, the Alaska legislature passed a bill requiring that neither a victim nor their insurance company be charged for performing forensic rape examinations, as Wasilla was doing. At the time, when called for comment, Fallon said, "In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer." He also added, "The forensic exam is just one part of the equation. I'd like to see the courts make these people pay restitution for these things."

So, let's call a spade a spade. The Palin Administration in Wasilla definitely removed an item from the budget that the previous administration used to pay for forensic rape examinations, which are done at hospitals with medical personnel. Fallon defended Wasilla's policy. Period.

Does it mean that Palin hates rape victims, blames them for their assaults, etc.? No. Like many a Republican before her, she was shifting the cost of a government service off her books and onto others (in this case, she planned on health insurance providers and Medicaid picking up Wasilla's slack). That it was done with little reflection on the potential ramifications to health insurance companies or the hospitals, the possibility of having one's insurance revoked for utilizing it for an expensive emergency room visit or the 15% of Americans (including Alaskans) who lack health insurance, among other things, makes it bad policy — but it doesn't make her a bad person. An uninsightful one with an inability to consider the potential unintended consequences of her actions, perhaps, but not a rape-promoter.

But, of course, it's that meme that got the Republicans all a-flutter, and gave them the opening to launch their (poorly armed) counter-offensive. Jim Geraghty's first line says it all:

Liberal bloggers have cited the story of Wasilla charging victims for rape kits as evidence that as mayor, Sarah Palin backed cruel and insensitive policies.

But let's debunk his points anyway.

Jim Geraghty says: "Wasilla was not mentioned in any of the hearings [held in 2000 before passing the bill]."
Fair enough, it probably wasn't. The bill's sponsor, former Representative Eric Croft, recalls that he was asked to sponsor the legislation to shame several small municipalities into paying for rape kits, a recollection backed up by forensic nurse Tara Henry, who added that Fallon was alone in his shameless defense of billing the procedures to victims' insurance companies. In other words, like much state legislation, the bill was introduced for the purpose of highlighting the problem and forcing police departments not to be assholes, and Fallon alone stood up in defense of assholery. That they didn't shame him by name — though, given the Frontiersman article, he seems to have had little shame about it — is not proof that it didn't happen in Wasilla or that Sarah Palin's Administration wasn't the impetus for doing so. Obviously.

Jim Geraghty says: "The deputy commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Public Safety told the State Affairs Committee that he has never found a police agency that has billed a victim."
Um, well, it's because they wouldn't have billed victims anyway, they simply stopped paying the hospitals and the hospitals billed the victims. Oh, look! Fallon never hand-delivered a bill to a rape victim! He must be innocent! Bush has never tortured a Guantanamo detainee, either, but it doesn't mean that his actions as President haven't directly led to people being tortured. In fact, Geraghty even admits that the hospitals would've done the billing directly, but neglects to note that every person who has insurance coverage has a co-pay (which means that every person billed by the hospital for a forensic rape examination had an out-of-pocket expense) and 15% of the country doesn't have health insurance. It's ludicrous to suggest that somehow in a market economy no one paid for these exams — and, from Wasilla's own budgets, we sure as hell know Wasilla didn't pay for them.

Jim Geraghty says: (quoting Trisha Gentile, executive director of the Council on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault) that the hospitals "have chosen to separate some of the costs of sexual-assault exams. Hospitals are adding sexually-transmitted-disease (STD) and blood tests to the cost of sexual-assault exams, and the hospital makes a choice to bill the victim for those charges."
Well, now, here's where I'm going to disagree with Trisha and Jim at the same time. Watch: it's easy! When I had my rape kit performed, in fact, they did take blood to perform tests for STDs and check for the presence of alcohol and date rape drugs. That's actually part of the evidence. Because if I get an STD from a perpetrator (something you can't learn until well after your rape kit, since your body would just be in the process of getting infected after an assault) who knew he had one, then the rapist can be charged with an additional crime — so checking for current STDs provides a baseline for the police to know that information. The forensic nurse also collected blood and urine to check my BAC and for the presence of any drugs, date-rape or otherwise, in my system as part of the forensic examination. Believe me, it wasn't a fun little helpful extra thing the hospital saw fit to provide.

The one thing I was offered of medical value at the hospital that performed my forensic rape examination that had nothing to do with the police investigation, though? The morning after pill. And we all know how Sarah Palin feels about rape and abortion. But even in 2000, the morning after pill (aka, Plan B) didn't cost $300 - $1,200. My records from the summer of 2000 (when I had to use it following a condom break) was that it cost me and my insurance company less than $50.

Basically, Jim Geraghty doesn't have a leg to stand on in his "refutations" of our "liberal blogger" arguments that the city of Wasilla, while Sarah Palin was mayor, stopped paying for forensic rape examinations. That Charlie Fallon wasn't personally delivering bills to crying victims is no vindication for the Palin Administration in this matter. Unfortunately, he does have a point in that none of this proves anything about Sarah Palin's personal motivations for doing so or her personal feelings about rape victims. Of course, I also think it's a better attack to wonder whether she is either lying about not knowing what Fallon was doing under her leadership, or whether her leadership of the city of Wasilla was so lax that she actually didn't know that he was arguing with the legislature and giving quotes to the local paper about his actions. Let Jim Geraghty fact check that, 'cause it's gotta be one or the other.

Wasilla Debunking Kit [National Review]
Trying To Fact Check Sarah Palin On Rape Kits [Feministing]
The Reform Candidate? [Washington Independent]
New Evidence: Palin Had Direct Role In Charging Rape Victims For Exams [Huffington Post]
Knowles Signs Sexual Assault Bill [Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman]
Palin On Abortion: I'd Oppose Even If My Own Daughter Was Raped [Huffington Post]

• Noted anti-fur activist has some advice for noted huntress Sarah Palin: "She can suck it." Yet another woman with a legitimate policy disagreement with Sarah Palin. [Huffington Post]
• By the way, Todd Palin's about to break his subpoena cherry, as he's expected to be subpoenaed to testify about his role in TrooperGate. God, if only the Congress could subpoena people to testify about wrongdoing in the Bush Administration! Wait, that's right, they could, but then they wouldn't get their bellies scratched. [Wall Street Journal]
• Once upon a time, in a primary far, far away, John McCain said that former Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (pop: 8,000,000, attacked by terrorists in 2001) didn't have enough national security experience to be President. [Huffington Post]

• Unsurprisingly, Sarah Palin's next interview will be with Sean Hannity next week. Apparently, Charlie Gibson wasn't fawning enough. [New York Observer]
• Not that it matters whether he was or not, probably, since McCain's now ahead in the polls for the first time. Apparently, more people think that he is inexperienced than believe that Sarah Palin is. No, for real. [Associated Press]
• Oh, and of course Sarah Palin signed off on the budgets that cut funding for rape kits in Wasilla. [Huffington Post]

However, her name rang a bell when another story on backlogged rape kits appeared in the Washington Post today, so we were inspired to do a little more research into her and came up with something that surprised us. Tofte doesn't have a ton of background in victims' rights advocacy or research. She does, however, have a great deal of background in offenders' rights work.

Last year, after receiving a "Distinguished Alumni Award" from her alma mater, she gave a lecture on death penalty abolition to the students — fair enough, as most of her research to that point seemingly focused on the need to abolish the death penalty. After that, her scholarship and public statements shifted toward sex offenses, and she's written in opposition to sex offender registry laws and spoken about what she sees as the difference between perception and reality when it comes to sex offender recidivism (the oft-cited reason for sex offender registry laws).

This is a number that always strikes me, that I think people don't pick up on as much, but to me I find this the most striking number. Is that every year, of all new sex crimes, eighty-seven percent of new sex crimes are committed by someone who has no previous sex crimes convictions.

In both her pieces in the LA Times and the Washington Post, Tofte argues forcefully for more money and resources to go to the examination of rape kits — there's a tremendous backlog in the processing of such kits, which can be (and are often supposed to be) checked against a database of known offenders — offenders that she's suggested have a reasonably low recidivism rate that doesn't justify registration. On the other hand, many groups that work on offender issues have correctly noted the use of DNA testing in clearing defendants and those convicted of certain crimes like rape. So, I guess I'm a little suspicious now what Tofte's purpose is in changing suddenly from offender-advocacy to victim-advocacy, let alone advocating and researching issues in which HRW has historically never taken much of a stand or an interest.

Lost Promise For Rape Victims [L.A. Times]
A Test of Justice for Rape Victims [Washington Post]
Sarah Tofte [Luther College]
The Wrong Sex Offender Laws [LA Times]
Sarah Tofte finds it striking... [Aztram]

• A new study shows that most female child molesters were victims of sexual abuse themselves. • Jordan has charged a man who allegedly killed his sister for having an extramarital affair. • Stephanie Pearl-McPhee calls herself the "yarn harlot" and keeps an eponymous blog about knitting. • Some conservative British politicians want to bar lesbians from receiving IVF treatment unless the potential child would have a "male role model" involved. • In the U.S., paid maternity leave is a luxury, not a right. "The United States provides the fewest maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and paid time off," when compared to nineteen equally rich countries, according to Time. • Overheard at the gay rodeo: "This is an all-American sport, and we are all-American people." • Queen Elizabeth tops the list of Live Science's 10 Most Powerful Modern Women Leaders. Also included: Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.