The Virgin Islands Police Department closed a major sexual assault case last week with the arrest of Jimmy Davis in the Williams Delight area of St. Croix. He was taken into custody Wednesday – a month after the alleged New Year’s Eve rape of a woman in Whim Garden. According to police, Davis overpowered, then assaulted the victim at her home early on December 31st. He is charged with Rape First Degree and Assault First Degree. Bail was set at $100,000.
Victim advocates cheer police for apprehending Davis – but they say the arrest is a distressing reminder that unsolved sex crimes continue to torment the Virgin Islands. Exact numbers on unsolved sexual assaults are hard to come by because many cases go unreported, and when survivors do contact police, another troubling set of problems emerge.
According to survivor organizations, a backlog of unprocessed forensic evidence kits – commonly known as rape kits – has resulted in delays in identifying rape suspects and, further, makes it even more problematic to try cases in court. “We don’t know the number of rape kits that is in the backlog, but I know it’s quite a bit,” one advocate who asked to remain anonymous told Yellow Cedar.
The rape kit is a crucial tool used by law enforcement to investigate and prosecute sexual assault and related crimes. The kit itself is, essentially, a container that includes a checklist, materials, and instructions, along with envelopes and containers to package forensic material collected during the medical exam of the victim. If the assault is reported to police, the exam takes place at a hospital – Juan Luis on St. Croix or Roy Schneider Medical Center on St. Thomas.
A National Problem with Local Consequences
Blame for the backlog in the Virgin Islands does not fall exclusively on the doorstep of the local police. Kits, might indeed, accumulate at the V.I.P.D. for some reason. The bigger problem, however, seems to lie with the crime lab in Florida and others like it. Nationally, the backlog of unprocessed evidence is staggering. Just two years ago, more than 25,000 untested rape kits sat in law enforcement agencies and crime labs across the country. A Congressional Research Service report that year said that number could be as high as 400,000 nationwide.
The Evidence Trail
When a rape is reported in the Territory, police dispatch an officer trained to work victims of sex crimes. The victim and witness advocate accompanies the woman (or man, or child) to the hospital. The emergency room wait for medical attention can be traumatic to some. “It’s a difficult experience,” said Leslye Webb, the police department’s victim advocate on St. Croix. “And unfortunately, a lot of women don’t report.”
Once the evidence is collected, the kit is sent off to DNA Labs International in Deerfield, FL., for the forensic analysis. Any DNA left by the assailant is profiled then uploaded to the federal Combined DNA Index System (known as CODIS) to determine if the rapist has struck before.
The DNA Labs director of contracts declined to talk about the number of Virgin Islands’ cases that are in the queue for processing or what steps are being taken to move the kits along leaving many rape survivors and their loved ones in a desperate state longing for closure.
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