I just don't get it. If they are not "too traumatized" to get the test, why sit on the evidence!??!?! So someone else can get raped?

I think that addresses your question to a degree, TM. And because rape is such a personal crime, with so many connotations of guilt, blame and shame, it sometimes takes time for the victim to want to deal with it head-on. It sounds like these cases already require medical attention, so the rape kit really doesn't add much in terms of additional trauma — but could be vital if they do decide to prosecute.

There should be no "If I decide". There is counseling in place and resources. If you are brave enough to call and report it and don't wish to prosecute, the police can do it for you.

They already do for domestics here in Ohio. If TraumaPappa takes a swing at me and I say I don't want to press charges, the police department can override MY wishes and charge him anyways. And I like that policy.

NO ONE should get off the hook for a crime.

I really want to agree with you here — I totally agree that no rapist should be allowed to walk free. But dealing with the victims is a totally different thing; and the nature of the crime, I'd imagine, makes it nearly impossible to prosecute without the victim's help.

No one ever has pressured anyone into saying anything, but evidence is taken. Police must take reports, EMS takes reports as well.

Who you are with, what you are doing, etc etc all come into play in the questions. I have seen them done from start to finish.

To see evidence shelved, solves nothing and does nothing to heal the victim. On the contrary, if the attacker knows he can pressure his victim into not doing anything, he is able to rape again.

THAT is a bigger crime and a tragedy in my opinion.

But evidence has shown that even the recounting of the rape to police, and the pointed questions that surely must follow, can be almost like a re-living of the event. While I completely agree that every rapist needs to be locked up/put down, I can see how this would help victims come forward at all — and considering the high numbers of rapes that never get anywhere near the police, this might help shift the current slightly in the direction of more victims coming forward, a help in the long run.
I read in a separate article that another advantage of this law was ensuring the woman never got accidentally charged for the rape kits by the hospital — which evidently happened a few times, leading to questions from insurance agents and their employers, who really had no right knowing the woman in question had been raped.

All crime is traumatic. I have a front row seat to all of it in my professions.

I don't like the idea.

Fair enough.

As I'm sure you can relate and understand, people aren't always rational when they're traumatized.

You and me (and I?) are strong women, as are many women of Plime, it's difficult for us to consider not prosecuting, not going directly to the police/hospital and having the evidence collected and spending hours in a police station trying to identify the son of a b***h, giving every detail we can remember. We might even be in the majority. But then, we're also less likely to be victims of the attack in the first place. We're combative (to an extent) and we don't "smell" like victims. Not that we can't be but we're the type to draw blood from our attacker, literally and figuratively. We have a clue about what to do.

There are still many people out there whose lives, environment, upbringing and culture don't afford them the same sense of empowerment that you and I share.

I don't know how helpful these kits will be, but I think they are better than doing nothing, which is what happens in most unreported cases. Who knows, maybe it will give those women a sense of empowerment, a sense of self they don't now possess. That's not the objective but it may be the start of a turning of the tide.

I don't really see a downside to this.

I'm confused as to why it costs $800. Slides, swabs, and bags are fairly cheap, I'm sure they don't use a new camera every time, unless it is $700 for the ER visit and $100 for the kit...

Hopefully the funding change will make this an option to anyone who goes through the horror of rape.

From the story:
I think part of that price tag is insuring that the evidence is admissible in court.