The Memphis Commercial Appeal profiles the city’s Rape Crisis Center, in its 37th year of operation. Unlike many other cities where victims are taken to hospital emergency rooms, Memphis uses the center to conduct medical examinations after sexual assaults. Formerly called the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center, the facility allows victims to walk in to report a crime or come via police escort after making a report. Emergency services are always available at no cost to the victim.
In a rape investigation, the paper says, the crime scene is a human body. Sexual assault victims aren’t required to undergo medical exams after reporting a crime, but local officials are stressing the importance of obtaining DNA evidence in light of several recent charges against rape suspects. Anna Whalley, director of the center, said victims have 72 Eto come in before DNA evidence is lost. arlier this month, Memphis police a 41-year-old man on charges stemming from a 2010 rape. Police linked the man through his DNA to at least five other rapes — one of a child — over a seven-year span in the same area.