Indiana advocate proposes bill of rights for sexual assault survivors

According to the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, about two-thirds of sexual assaults in Indiana go unreported.

And one advocate, a survivor herself, wants lawmakers to take steps to improve that rate.

Samantha McCoy told lawmakers she was raped when she was a student at Indiana University. And she detailed her experience reporting it — from being interrogated for hours to police losing some evidence and dismissing a video recording of the rape itself.

“I could not understand the level of betrayal I felt by a system that I truly believed was supposed to help victims,” McCoy said. “But instead, I regretted reporting entirely.”

There’s a sexual assault survivors bill of rights at the federal level — McCoy wants Indiana lawmakers to extend it to the state level.

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One provision McCoy said is important: Victims should not be required to undergo a voice stress test or a polygraph, more commonly known as a lie detector test.

“In my experience, as I stated, it was used as an intimidation tactic,” McCoy said. “It was not used in the investigation, and further, it cannot be used in court, regardless.”

Other provisions McCoy recommends include free access for survivors to full police reports of their alleged assault and mandatory testing of rape kits.

McCoy told legislators that Indiana currently has a backlog of about 6,600 rape kits.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.