Latest news with #evidenceCollection
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Self-swab ‘rape kits' being marketed at students a ‘serious concern'
Rape support groups have expressed 'serious concerns' over self-swab 'rape kits' being marketed towards university students in the UK. The kits allow people who have been sexually assaulted or raped to take a swab themselves and send it off to a lab to be tested for the DNA of the alleged perpetrator. Half the sample is frozen and can be kept for up to 20 years and handed to the police if the incident is later reported. Such kits have been handed out to students on UK university campuses in recent months, with companies saying the kits act as a deterrent and provide a simpler way to report a rape. However, Rape Crisis England and Wales has warned that although the kits might seem like a good idea, there are concerns about how they work. It warned survivors that the kits may not be able to collect the evidence needed to prove rape and that any evidence gathered may not be legally admissible - giving them 'false hope' that it could help in a legal case. 'Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) are aware that in parts of the country, self-swab 'rape kits' are beingmarketed to students and universities as a way for survivors – primarily, but not always, women and girls - to report rape, and to deter rapists,' a statement issued by Rape Crisis said. 'Although a self-swab kit might seem like a good idea, evidence collection needs to be done in a safe and legally compliant way for it to have most use in criminal trials.' It added: 'At-home kits can't offer that level of protection and may give survivors false hope that any evidence they gather could be relied on in a criminal trial.' It said this was because professional forensic medical examinations take place in forensically cleaned, controlled environments with strict rules to avoid contamination, making the evidence reliable. Unlike self-swab kits, they also include assessments of injuries, clothing, blood samples, and other medical findings. The kits have emerged amid a low rate of convictions for rape, with as many as five in six UK victims choosing not to report a rape at all. In 2024, 71,227 rapes were recorded by police, but only 2.7 per cent of these had resulted in charges by the end of the year. Companies selling the kits say they provide survivors with a 'simpler, easier way to report and create real deterrence'. Enough, a company that has handed out free kits at the University of Bristol and also sells them online for £20, says their main aim is to act as a deterrent, not to provide criminal justice. It told The Independent that 70 per cent of polled students in Bristol said the kits had prevented sexual violence on campus, 90 per cent are aware of the not-for-profit and over 200 reports have been made in just six months. 'Survivors are asking for Enough. The most common question they ask is 'how does this not already exist?' They thank Enough for stopping young women being raped.' Katie White, the Enough co-founder said. Its website says that if a person is seeking to report a rape to the police, they should go to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) first. It also says that leading KCs had confirmed DNA evidence collected by its kits - which are made by the same forensic experts that make them for the police - may be admissible at trial, but there are no guarantees of this. Rape Crisis said while these self swap kits may provide DNA evidence, it is rarely used in rape trials as they cannot prove any activity was non consensual. Although Enough points people to where they can get further support on its website, Rape Crisis also raised concerns that the kits don't offer specialist, in-person support: 'Survivors need trauma-informed care, reassurance, and to be heard and believed. A self-swab kit can't provide emotional support or explain next steps, but a trained support worker in a Rape Crisis centre, or an Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA) can.' Rape Crisis is the latest organisation to voice its concern over the kits, after the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (FFLM) issued a joint statement on the issue last year. It said it did not currently support the use of self-swab kits, and it could 'put survivors at risk' if they did not have the correct information.
Fox News
28-05-2025
- General
- Fox News
Botched crime scene handling could derail prosecution of Orleans Parish jail escapees, former FBI agent says
The failure by law enforcement officials to immediately process the jail cell from which 10 inmates escaped on May 16 as a crime scene could jeopardize potential prosecutions of the inmates, an expert said. "One of the first things any prosecutor looks for is basic crime scene documentation: photos, evidence logs, and signs that law enforcement treated the scene seriously," Jason Pack, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital. "Even if the facts seem clear-cut, skipping those steps opens the door for defense attorneys to argue the investigation was incomplete or sloppy." On Thursday, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams made what he called a "very unusual" move. Noting that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had not ordered a crime scene investigation inside the jail cell, he assembled a team of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) crime scene technicians and personally accompanied them to the jail to collect evidence. "Time is also of the essence when trying to get good DNA samples or collect fingerprints to make sure those areas are not molested or destroyed in any way," he told the media at the time. "So I am deeply concerned that there was not an immediate request by the sheriff to our local crime lab to get in there and examine, document, preserve and collect all of the forensic evidence that was available there so that we could already have it tested." Pack said that the delayed collection of evidence could help defense attorneys muddy the waters, and that Williams is likely tying up loose ends to make his potential cases as bulletproof as possible. "Now that someone from inside the jail has been charged with helping the escape, the district attorney was likely thinking like a prosecutor from the start," he said. "He would have been focused on how the case will look in court and what a judge or jury will expect to see." Sterling Williams, 33, an employee of the sheriff's office and a maintenance worker at the jail, has been arrested and charged with 10 counts of principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office for allegedly aiding the inmates in their jailbreak. He is accused of turning off the water in the cell from which the inmates escaped, allowing them to remove a toilet that blocked a hole they had cut into the cell's wall. Once the toilet was removed, they climbed through the hole, ran through an unguarded corridor, and then made a beeline for the jail's fence, hopping over it and onto the streets of New Orleans. Williams told investigators the inmates threatened to "shank" him if he did not help them. "For legal purposes, especially when a criminal charge has already been filed, the pod where the escape happened still needs to be treated like a crime scene," Pack said. However, he noted that the crime scene is a hectic area. The jail has 1,400 inmates, and countless inmates and staff could have contaminated the crime scene by now. "It's also important to remember that a jail pod isn't a clean crime scene. It's a busy place: guards, inmates, maintenance workers," Pack said. "A lot of people have access." According to Pack, the fingerprint and DNA evidence might not yield a clear-cut answer as to who might have committed a crime. Instead, he said, the value in collecting that evidence is to show in court that "every reasonable step was taken" in the investigation. WATCH: Stunning video shows New Orleans inmates escaping Williams said after collecting evidence from the scene that he had asked all OPSO employees and other relevant parties to voluntarily submit to fingerprinting in order to rule them out as suspects. He also demanded that surveillance footage from 90 cameras in the jail from April 1 through May 21 be handed over to his office. "Even when video shows how the escape happened, crime scene photos and records help prove that the case was handled professionally and by the book," Pack said. The May 16 early morning escape included a convicted four-time killer, along with nine others facing violent criminal charges stemming from second-degree murder to domestic abuse and felon in possession of a firearm. They taunted the authorities on the way out, writing "To easy LOL," along with other messages on the wall of the cell. Authorities were unaware that the men were missing for about eight hours after the escape. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for comment. Two hundred local, state and federal law enforcement officers have been involved in a manhunt for the suspects. As of Tuesday, eight of the suspects have been recaptured, and 14 people have been arrested for aiding them. Along with Williams, an inmate who did not escape with the group of 10 became the second person from inside the jail to be charged with helping them escape. Trevon Williams, 23, has been rebooked on 10 counts of principal to simple escape for allegedly giving the escapees a blanket and shirt to help them hop the razor-wire fence during their escape. Arrests over the weekend included 28-year-old Lenika Vanburen, 18-year-old Patricia Vanburen, 27-year-old Tyshanea "Minnie" Randolph, 47-year-old Lenton Vanburen Sr. and 40-year-old Angel McKey – all accused of aiding the escapees. Lenton Vanburen Sr. is the father of escapee Lenton Vanburen, who has since been caught, a source confirmed to Fox News. State police said that Diamond White, 21, was also arrested on charges that include principal to aggravated escape and obstruction of justice, USA Today reported. Emmitt Weber, 28, was also arrested for allegedly helping two of the inmates after the escape. So was Casey Smith, 30, who reportedly admitted to driving some of the inmates around New Orleans after they escaped. On Thursday night, the Louisiana State Police announced that it had arrested Connie Weeden, 59, who allegedly sent cash to then-fugitive Jermaine Donald via a cellphone app. Before that, Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, were arrested for allegedly assisting the fugitives. Harris is accused of transporting some of the escapees to locations throughout New Orleans after the escape, and Baptiste is accused of being in contact with escapee Corey Boyd and bringing him food after the escape. Sources close to the investigation told Fox News that Baptiste is the girlfriend of now-recaptured Boyd, who is accused of second-degree murder, and Harris is the girlfriend of Leo Tate, who is still on the run. On Monday, three more inmates were recaptured. Vanburen was caught in Baton Rouge, and Tate and Donald were captured by the Texas Department of Public Safety in Walker, Texas, according to the Louisiana State Police. Groves remains on the run with Antoine Massey, a four-time jail escapee who faces charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation.
