Sunday, May 10, 2009

Texas Charging Rape Victims For Rape Kits.



This is unbelievable. I wrote during the election campaign about the fact that the town of Wasilla forced rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests when Sarah Palin was mayor.

Now this appears to be happening in Texas as well.

I find this story very hard to understand. Is it an administrative matter which is causing a dispute over whether the police or the victim's insurance are actually supposed to pay the bill? If so, I simply don't understand where the confusion comes in.

I mean, don't you already pay for the police force and any equipment they need through taxation? After all, this is not asking the police to pay for stitches in the back of someones head after an attack, this is asking the police to pay for the forensics they need in order to properly investigate a crime.

Since when is that bill the responsibility of the victim? People who have been burgled don't get bills for the fingerprint powder, so why are these victims of much worse crimes being presented with a bill?

I find this truly disgusting. And it does make me very happy to live in country where all health care is free at the point of need and that such matters would simply never be raised with a victim.

2 comments:

daveawayfromhome said...

Part of the problem comes from a little Republican idea called "pay as you go", where people have to pay for the cost of whatever services they require. Thus do fees get applied or raised on various services, thus are the only new roads built toll-roads. The idea behind it is to be able to cut taxes for the wealthy to avoid them having to pay for services given to those who "contribute less". If they could get away with charging for fingerprint dust, they would. Here in Dallas there's been talk of charging out-of-towners clean-up charges when they're involved in an accident also.
Republicans have no interest in being part of a Community. They have become, except in cases of religious-based social interference, anarchists.

And yes, Rent-boy Rick Perry is an uber-Bush, a Republican True Believer who unfortunately is in a position for almost two more years to carry out his extreme positions.
To tell you how bad things have become under Republicans, they are actually loosing ground to Democrats even though they did an illegal gerrymandering of voter district lines to favor themselves back in '03 or so.

Kel said...

Russ and Dave,

I know I come from a different country than yours but sometimes it feels like I am on a different planet.

This shit should be illegal. I mean, seriously, what's next? That the families of victims of murder should pay for the investigation?

How do they con blue collar workers into voting for this shit? Or is it all religion based?