This project explores how the presentation of rape kit backlogs in Law & Order: SVU, and the documentary I am Evidence, directed by Mariska Hargitay, affected legal changes in the United States. Because of her role as Olivia Benson in SVU, Hargitay began receiving letters from survivors, disclosing their untold stories; she thus founded the anti-sexual violence nonprofit, the Joyful Heart Foundation.
The campaign to eliminate rape kit backlogs started in 2009, when Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy discovered 11,341 untested rape kits in an abandoned warehouse once used by the Detroit police to store evidence. In 2010, the scandal was reproduced in an episode in the twelfth season of SVU, and again in 2018, in the eighteenth season, with a cameo by Vice President Joe Biden. The occasion was due to the release of the documentary I am Evidence, where Hargitay collaborates with Worthy in exploring the rape kit crisis, giving voice to rape survivors and exposing the pervasive misogyny in the justice system.
The shocking numbers, around 225,000 untested rape kits all over the country, signaled an epidemic issue that deserves action. Although the path is still long, the exposé prodded several states to reform their legislation and rape kit tracking systems, processing those that remained untested for years and discovering positive matches related to unsolved crimes.
By profiling this story and others, I will demonstrate how, in replicating real events and social movements on the small screen, Law & Order: SVU and I am Evidence impacted the civil and legal views of rape crimes and the investigation of sexually-related offenses.
About the presenterDacia Paje
Dacia Pajé is a PhD Candidate in Communication, Culture and Media at Drexel University (Philadelphia). Her research agenda focuses on the construction and reception of sexual violence and rape culture in television/streaming series and movies, with particular attention to crime and legal dramas. Recently, she published on K-pop and feminist fandoms, and she is working on several projects on mediated feminism and social media.