Sarah Palin scares me, Part II
- Tue Sep 16 2008
- United States
- Trackback URL
- comment feed
- digg this post
When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the city billed sexual assault victims and their insurance companies for the cost of rape kits and forensic examinations.
Palin had been in office for four years when the practice of charging rape victims got the attention of state lawmakers in 2000, who passed a bill to stop the practice.
Former Democratic Rep. Eric Croft, who sponsored that bill, said he was disappointed that simply asking the Wasilla police department to stop didn’t work. Croft said he doubts she was unaware of the practice.
Lawmakers became involved in 2000 when reports began coming in that police departments were charging sexual assault victims for the kits and the forensic exams, which cost from $300 to $1,200 at the time. The kit, a package of sample containers, swabs and other medical supplies, is used to collect evidence from women after they are attacked.
Then-Gov. Tony Knowles said Thursday that Wasilla was unique in the state in charging rape victims for the cost of doing the law enforcement necessary for solving the crime.
Associated Press, 11 September 2008
3 Responses to “Sarah Palin scares me, Part II”
Tue Sep 16 2008
11:45 am
I don’t care if she was following past precedent or what. This is absolutely inexcusable, and ever since I’ve first found out about it, I’ve not known what the hell to think.
Well, other than that I don’t think that Barack Obama, had he run a community organization designed to assist rape victims, would have sat idly by while rape victims had to pay for their rape kits. I think he understands “responsibilities”.
Tue Sep 16 2008
11:58 am
If you look at the timeline there wasn’t past precedent. When Sarah Palin was voted in as mayor of Wasilla, the chief of police was Irl Stambaugh, who included the cost of forensic rape kits in his budget (meaning the police department would pay for them). She then fired Stambaugh and hired Charlie Fannon who eliminated forensic rape kits from his budget.
Tue Sep 16 2008
12:00 pm
(oh I got the timeline info from here: http://alaskareport.com/news98/x61620_rape_palin.htm)
Leave a Reply