Thread by @WMurphyLaw

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic (1/3) This article is dangerously uninformed. Rape kits RARELY help & mostly weaken cases for victims by forcing disclosure of consensual sex partners. This normalizes violations of rape shied laws & victims constitutional privacy rights as precondition to prosecution. BAD POLICY

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic Here’s some data on how few rape kits actually help. Testing shd occur ONLY in small % of cases where results are relevant & only AFTER a hearing to protect victims’ due process & privacy rights. Studies show victims don’t report for fear their privacy rights will be violated!

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic PRIMARY reasons rape is not prosecuted:
1. Juror-police-prosecutor bias. There are NO policies to prevent sex discrimination.
2. Rape law. Definition of consent does NOT protect women’s autonomy. Rapist’s false claim of of mistake trumps a credible victim’s report of nonconsent

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic Atlantic also completely missed the critical fact that women as a class are not entitled to fully EQUAL protection of the law under the US Constitution, which means the legal system may disproportionately decline to prosecute rape, with impunity.

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic Rape victims are also subjected to special rules that allow their credibility to be considered suspect - in ways that are not applies to other types of crimes victims. How did the Atlantic miss so many key issues in a piece they claim is well-researched?!

@barbarabradleyh @TheAtlantic Finally, many rape victims are drugged, which makes it difficult to testify about what happened. Cops & forensic examiners never do proper testing. They tell victims drugs disappear quickly in blood & urine, but never tell them hair can be tested & dated, even months later #metoo