Nation’s vice president to spotlight untested rape kits
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has long taken a strong advocacy stance on behalf of sexual assault victims, and he will reportedly promote his involvement in that realm by rendering a cameo performance in an upcoming television episode on a long-running and popular series.
That show is Law & Order: SVU (special victims unit), which stars Mariska Hargitay, herself a long-tenured advocate of sexual assault victims, both in her role as a police detective on the show itself and in the real world.
As noted in a recent Los Angeles Times article, the episode that Biden will appear on will focus upon the “ongoing issue in criminal justice with rape kits being backlogged and going untested.”
There are many thousands of those in police precincts and labs across the country that have obvious implications in sex cases involving both adult and child victims. The DNA evidence that emerges in a given case can be of central importance, sometimes both to ongoing investigations and to so-called “cold” cases.
Biden appeared with Hargitay and criminal law officials last year at a forum announcing new federal funding to be made available for testing rape kits and to prosecute perpetrators.
We centrally note the importance that a lawsuit can have for a sex crime victim, stating on a page of our website at Taylor & Ring in Los Angeles that it “can be a powerful catalyst for healing and a sense of justice.”
And, especially with a civil filing, a victim can find closure and justice through a recovery that yields both a financial benefit and holds all culpable parties — not just an individual perpetrator — accountable.
Such parties can include employers, security companies and negligent property owners.
Relevant information can be obtained by contacting our firm.
Serving clients throughout the Greater Los Angeles and Southern California area, we represent victims in a variety of civil litigation cases. If you or a loved one has been injured, turn to an experienced Los Angeles personal injury or sexual assault lawyer.
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