Making Victims Pay for the Investigation

The state is being asked to keep some crime victims from becoming victims again during the investigation of the crime. Think of this scenario: Somebody burglarizes your house and steals your most prized possessions. Then suppose that a few days after police have investigated the crime scene, you get a bill for the costs of the investigation. No, that does not really happen in burglary cases. However, says Colleen Cobble of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, rape victims can find themselves paying for the taking of samples and gathering of other evidence because the body is the crime scene and the collection of forensic evidence takes place in a hospital setting. The victim, considered a patient, becomes liable for the hospital costs. Kansas City Senator Yvonne Wilson says the system victimizes victims a second time. The legislature put 77-thousand dollars into the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination fund this year to reimburse victims for their hospital, or investigation, costs. Cobble has told the Senate Appropriations Committee that money was gone within six months. She is asking the legislature to change the law so sexual assault victims don’t have to pay for their crime to be investigated. The Senate Appropriations Committee will look at alternatives.(Attached to this story is Cobble’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. It has been lightly edited to fit time parameters.)