An A&E original podcast.

This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault.

Use your best judgment.

When a woman is raped, she has the option of going to a hospital for a sexual assault forensic exam,

commonly referred to as a rape kit.

During the exam, the woman is asked about her medical history and questions about any sexual encounters they've had. They are asked

how they were specifically assaulted to help the practitioner focus the exam. She has to take off all

of her clothes, which are taken from her and placed in an evidence bag.

Her body is examined from head to toe.

This includes being swabbed in various places where the attacker might have left his DNA.

Pictures are taken of her naked body, and then samples are taken of her blood and urine.

When the exam is over, the woman is offered follow-up treatment for possible

STIs and possible pregnancy. Depending on the facility, information about counseling and support groups

might be shared with the victim. The process is uncomfortable to think about, and an additional

traumatic experience piled on the trauma of being sexually

assaulted.

Women undergo rape kit exams because they want their rapists to be caught, which makes

the fact that there are at least 200,000 untested rape kits in the United States, 11,000

in Canada, 175,000 in the UK, and an estimated over 10,000 in Canada, 175,000 in the UK,

and an estimated over 10,000 in Australia,

so infuriating.

One of those cases was Robin Hill.

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