Texas Legislators on both sides of the aisle have filed bills to address some of the problems confronted in prosecuting and convicting sexual assault perpetrators.
One problems is that the majority of sexual assaults are never reported to authorities. Another, is the low rate of convictions for those which are reported. Despite repeated studies which show that sexual crimes have the lowest percentage of false reports, the culture faced by victims discourages reporting. Only about 10% of on-campus rape/sexual assault cases are reported to authorities.
When prosecution is rare and conviction is even less frequent, victims weigh the benefit and forego reporting. We must CHANGE THE CULTURE. The protocols must be improved to increase the rate of conviction before more victims will report the crimes.
We have too few medical professionals trained in forensic medical exams. Sometimes the exams do not hold up in court because of failures to protect the chain of evidence or flawed procedures used by the medical team performing the examination. We should include forensic medical examination best practices in medical school for nurses and doctors.
Many communities do not have anyone certified in forensic medical exams. When a victim is taken to a hospital, they may learn the nearest place where they can be examined is in the next county or at a hospital a hundred miles away.
Many localities do not allocate funds for forensic medical exams or for processing the examination kits. Hospital personnel sometimes calls around trying to find a non-profit who will pay for the forensic medical exam. If unsuccessful, they bill the victim. This is WRONG. Sexual assault, rape or molestation are the only crimes where the victim is billed for investigation or processing the evidence. HB 616 calls for the state of Texas to compensate for the forensic medical exams and processing the evidence kits. Texas House Bills 152 and HB531 address collection and chain of custody /record retention for sexual assault evidence.
Criminal Justice majors in Texas are not currently required to take courses in the best practices for questioning, investigating and preserving the chain of evidence in sexual assault rape cases. A bill has been filed requiring law enforcement officers in Texas to be trained within 2 years of graduating from the academy. This bill should be amended, and the training incorporated into requirements for graduation for Criminal Justice majors and graduation from Police Academies. Victims should not be subjected to substandard protocols for the next two years!
Texas needs state wide protocols for collecting and handling sexual assault evidence. Rep. Victoria Neave filed House Bill 401 calling for the Attorney General to create a TX Sexual Assault Evidentiary Council to recommend a standardized sexual assault kit as well as statewide protocols.
When sexual assaults are committed on College campus, they frequently go unreported. Rep. Neave filed HB 524 which requires colleges/ universities to create a transcript notation policy for students who have been found to have violated the institution’s code of conduct by committing a sex offense.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s HB403 addresses training requirements for a member of the board of trustees and the superintendent of an independent school district regarding sexual abuse, human trafficking,
Rep. Joe Moody’s HB309 creates a criminal offense of indecent assault and adds these acts to reasons for granting a protective order.
There are a number of Human Trafficking bills.
There are other bills designed to improve the process. It will be a busy session. These are bills which are non-partisan. We need to emphasis to our State Reps and State Senators that we expect them to ignore the party of the person who authors good bills and work to improve when appropriate, and pass.