Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4323, the Debbie Smith Act. Every 2 minutes in this country, someone is sexually assaulted. That means, by the time I finish my remarks today, at least one man, woman, or child will have been brutally attacked. By the end of this year, more than 200,000 people--nearly all of them women and girls--will have been victimized in the most inhuman way. Only 60 percent of victims will ever report their attacks, and barely 3 percent of attackers will ever serve a day in prison. These statistics are staggering, and we are not doing all we can to ensure that every victim has access to the justice he deserves. Too often, victims who are willing to report their attacks face invasive examinations, which leave them feeling victimized all over again. They then wait, often living in fear and with no information from law enforcement, while their rape kits collect dust in evidence lockers or sit on lab shelves. Every untested rape kit is a lost opportunity to provide justice and to catch dangerous criminals. To see the importance of rape kit testing, look no further than New York City. In 1999, the city enacted a policy to test every rape kit and to eliminate its backlog of over 17,000 kits, and 15 years later, that policy has made a world of difference. Every kit collected in New York is tested within 30 to 60 days, and the arrest rate for rape has skyrocketed from 40 percent to 70 percent.…”