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New Mississippi rape kits aim to help survivors and aid prosecutions

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New Mississippi rape kits aim to help survivors and aid prosecutions

PEARL – A forensic clinic serving sexual assault survivors in central Mississippi has created a new evidence collection kit that aims to help survivors, law enforcement and prosecutors.

Bridge Forensic Clinic, which is operated by the Center for Violence Prevention, consulted with forensic experts, law enforcement and nurses to create a new evidence kit – commonly called a rape kit – which hasn’t been updated in over 15 years, according to the clinic.

A sexual assault survivor can choose to undergo a forensic medical exam to collect evidence, which can be used in a case and prosecution. A medical worker preserves evidence such as clothing and blood and photographs the person’s body for signs of bruising or injuries.

“Much of the healing of victims comes from results in the justice system,” said Sandy Middleton, executive director for Center for Violence Prevention.

Beth McCord, operations manager of the Bridge Forensic Clinic, led the process to update the rape kit.

The previous kit had 21 steps. The new one has nine. Some steps were able to be eliminated or consolidated due to changes in the lab that processes evidence from the kits and how the clinic’s nurses work with survivors.

“We don't want to create any more trauma or cause any more trauma to them by doing this exam,” she said. “This exam is for (the survivor) as well as the law enforcement. We’re trying to help them provide these samples with hopes to get DNA back,”

McCord said the goal is for the kits to be manufactured by the end of the year and available for distribution in early 2023.

Bridge Forensic Clinic has three sexual assault nurse examiners including McCord who collect evidence for rape kits. The Center for Violence Prevention also has relationships with five local hospital emergency rooms, allowing SANE nurses to collect kit evidence there.

Last year, the clinic’s SANE nurses served about 230 people, which includes collecting evidence for rape kits, McCord said.

Between 2019 and 2021, statewide there were prosecutions for 20 rapes,167 statutory rapes and 481 sexual assaults, according to statistics provided by the center.

Middleton said these numbers show Mississippi does not do a good job at prosecuting these kinds of cases and that there are likely more survivors who chose not to seek medical attention or report to the police.

In response to a continued rise in sexual assaults and a lack of prosecution of those crimes in the state, Bridge Forensic Clinic organized a kit review committee with the goal of making changes to the rape kit.

Evidence from a rape kit can be used if a survivor chooses to report a sexual assault to police. Law enforcement will bring the kit to the state crime lab for analysis. McCord said the wait can be between six to 12 months for results from a rape kit.

Nearly half of all states in the country have a backlog in testing and processing rape kits, according to End the Backlog.

That backlog exists for a number of reasons, including a lack of policies and protocols to test kits, a lack of training or gaps about sexual assault, a lack of resources and whether the perpatrator’s identity is known and outdated or unclear lab policies, according to the organization.

On Tuesday, McCord and Middleton said it is difficult to know how many untested rape kits there are in Mississippi because there is not a central place where they are stored. Kits are often housed in evidence storage of police departments and sometimes at hospitals.

“It’s hard to know where our backlogs are because we don’t know where our kits are,” Middleton said.

In 2019, the Associated Press reported there were 600 untested kits in Jackson.

Missisisppi and Maine are the only states that have not had comprehensive rape kit reform, according to a map by End the Backlog.

In the past several years, state lawmakers have introduced legislation about testing rape kits, but those bills failed.

Middleton hopes to see legislation that supports use of the new kits and ways for the center to continue to help survivors in the upcoming legislative session.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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