“It’s Not About the Kit” A Historical Perspective of Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations

• In Event: The Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination Process and Sexual Assault Victimization Among the Unhoused

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to provide a historical perspective on the evolution of sexual assault kits (SAKs) and sexual assault medical forensic examinations (SAMFEs). The idea of standardizing evidence collection in sexual assault cases is attributed to Martha Goddard, Chicago victim rights advocate, who initially met resistance to the idea in the 1970s. Goddard’s idea was further developed by Louis Vitullo, a Chicago police investigator and forensic analyst, and became known as the Vitullo Evidence Collection Kit, used in multiple Illinois hospitals beginning in 1978. Development of the Vitullo Kit underscored the need for victims of sexual assault to receive specialized care along with unique evidence collection methods. In several areas of the United States in the late 1980s, nurses united to develop a new field of nursing – forensic nursing – to provide specialized care and formed the International Association of Forensic Nurses. Federal legislation, such as the Violence Against Women Act and development of SAMFE national protocols, evolved to address this growing need. Current and future trends in evidence collection methods will be discussed. The focus of SAMFEs as being “not about the kit,” but about the care of sexual assault survivors will be threaded throughout the presentation.
 

Author

• Julie Valentine, University of Utah