Jordan Kimmel
For rape survivors in Tennessee, the criminal justice system is broken.
For those victims, a rape kit is often the only thing that can bring about prosecution against their rapist. So if this crucial item is lost, their single chance at receiving justice can be lost with it.
When a survivor seeks medical attention within about 72 hours* of their experience, they are entitled to a forensic medical examination. The health care provider is then to notify the applicable law enforcement agency that a Sexual Assault Forensics Examination (S.A.F.E.) kit, also known as rape kit, is ready for release.
There are two kids of S.A.F.E. kits. One is a reporting kit, the other a hold kit, and both come with a series of problems for the victim. Atop the mile-high list of issues, however, is the complete absence of a tracking system for either type of kit
Jordan Kimmel, a 20-year-old pre-law student at Vanderbilt and a native of Sumner County, experienced the horror of losing her rape kit firsthand.
“I received a hold kit for my rape, and they did not provide me with the hold kit number,” said Ms. Kimmel. “Which if you get that option, that is the one piece of identifying information that you have to be able to locate your kit. If you don’t have that number when you go to file a police report, the police aren’t going to know whose kit is what because it’s not attached to your social security number or name.”
While she was eventually able to locate her kit with the help of a legislator, many other victims are not so fortunate. Jordan Kimmel had already become involved in activism for the rights of sexual assault survivors, and this event showed just one of a multitude of issues with the criminal justice system.
And so she became involved with Rise, a nonprofit that has successfully passed 29 laws in 23 states. Most of these laws are parts of the larger piece of legislation known as the Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill of Rights Act, which was passed through the federal government and signed into law by former President Barack Obama in 2016. However, this act only covers federal crimes, not state crimes.
“What we are currently passing in Tennessee is a portion of the bill that is not in state law,” said Ms. Kimmel. Aside from creating a tracking system, one law introduced by the proposed bill would be to allow the victim to be interviewed by a law enforcement officer of the gender of the victim’s choosing.
The most vital aspect of the bill is the tracking system, and Ms. Kimmel said Rise has worked with the TBI and the Chiefs/Sheriff’s Association in order to get their opinion on what the bill will need to look like in order to be satisfactory. She pointed out the TBI is responsible for implementing the system.
“TBI and the Tennessee Coalition actually just got confirmation that we can get free software for a tracking system in Portland,” said Ms. Kimmel. “They have the software and they use it, and so we, free of cost, are getting the software that the tracking system is based off of.”
In the event the bill is passed, each agency would be given a set of briefs on how they should use the system, and how they should inform victims about how to use said system. Ms. Kimmel has good reason to believe the bill will be passed, due to bipartisan support in the Tennessee legislature.
This unilateral support began to take form after Jordan Kimmel was pointed toward Tennessee Coalition and their executive director Kathy Walsh. While Ms. Kimmel has been the face of the bill titled SB2121/HB2191, Ms. Walsh has been a crucial figure in the fight to create and pass the bill.
“I ran into some issues with gaining sponsorship because I am a college student,” said Ms. Kimmel. “So adults look at us like ‘Oh they’re just kids.’ A representative and a senator told me to reach out to Kathy Walsh, the executive director for the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. And she has since come forward to champion the bill. And a lot of the progress we have made in Tennessee I can attribute to her.”
With Mrs. Walsh and the Tennessee coalition in-tow for the process, the bill began to materialize. While Ms. Walsh’s years of experience has been invaluable for the bill’s progress, the executive director gave props to Ms. Kimmel for filling an equally vital, and more visible, role in the process.
“I believe that survivors are very important in this process. You want to talk to people who have been impacted by this crime in order to find out what would have made things better when you went through the legal process,” said Ms. Walsh. “So part of it is her voice as a survivor, and then two, she has been willing to talk with individual legislators and share her story, so that helps them better understand why we need this bill.”
As the “face” of the bill, Ms. Kimmel has testified in front of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. After testifying, several members of the committee from across the political spectrum expressed their sympathy and support for the bill.
“It's incredibly cool to be a part of something that actually has bipartisan roots, because everything you see in politics in the media is very one side or the other,” said Ms. Kimmel. “Our main sponsors are republican, but that is due to the nature of us being in a Republican super majority red state.”
One of the main sponsors is Rep. Jim Coley, who is retiring after the legislature meets this summer. The Memphis native said he has a history of working with legislators who sit across the political aisle, and echoed Ms. Kimmel in saying that the topic of sexual violence is a nonpartisan one.
“I want to give them praise for the bill, and to know that things are not as partisan and toxic as they are in Washington, D.C.,” said Rep. Coley. “Both of them have been good people to work with. Quite frankly I don’t care who carries the bill, as long as the bill is passed.”
“It is extremely bipartisan because the issue of sexual violence is not one party or the other,” said Ms. Kimmel. “You can become a victim of sexual violence even if you identify as a republican or a democrat. We try to stress that because we will work with anyone regardless of political ideologies and differences because what we are fighting for has nothing to do with the party system.”
As the state director for Rise’s Tennessee branch, Ms. Kimmel’s job includes spreading awareness of the issue and the bill, which she hopes will pass when the legislature meets again in June. She said her responsibilities include email blasts, meetings, lobby days, networking, and media events.
However, covering an entire state is too large a job for any one person. Because of this, she enlists the help of UT-Chattanooga alum Jacquelyn Carter as her East Tennessee liaison. After majoring in political science, she began assisting Ms. Kimmel and Rise in January.
“I am helping her in any capacity that she may not have at the time, since she is a full-time college student,” said Ms. Carter. “My responsibility is to look into the legal system of Tennessee, and learn about what rights do or don’t exist in Tennessee, and once the legislature picks up, I’ll be Jordan’s assistant and be there to support her in her journey to pass the bill.”
Ms. Kimmel and Rise were hoping the bill would pass into law during March, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature will not meet until June 1, which is a tentative date.
Even if the bill passes, Ms. Kimmel’s work is not yet finished. Ms. Kimmel hopes to one day get into work with the judicial system. She hopes to assist in reforming it in order to give survivors of sexual violence a stronger avenue to justice. One example she gave was the way questioning sexual violence survivors is handled by investigators.
“Increased education on sexual trauma is a necessity for detectives doing this work,” said Ms. Kimmel. “The process is, when you get a rape kit and go through the interview process, whenever you decide to report, the DA ultimately has the authority to decide whether he or she is going to take the case.”
One misunderstanding many investigators have is when a victim cries during an interview. Ms. Kimmel said this act does not signify guilt from the victim, rather, it is often a sign the victim is processing the worst experience of their life and “baring their soul” to the investigator.
If a detective is not properly trained on rape trauma, that individual will interpret the victim’s interview differently. This becomes vital when the detective is responsible for typing the case report to give to the DA explaining whether there is enough evidence to charge the perpetrator with the offense. The victim’s avenue of obtaining justice rests upon the interactions the victim has with the detective.
“Of all the stories I have heard, I have not heard a single story of a victim having positive feedback from the criminal justice system,” said Ms. Kimmel.
Even if the DA takes the case and the perpetrator is prosecuted, the consequence is rarely incarceration. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network’s (RAINN) statistics on sexual violence, only six out of every 1000 perpetrators end up in prison. According to the Department of Justice, only 23 percent* of sexual assaults are even reported to law enforcement, making it one of the most under-reported crimes.
That is just one of the aspects of the criminal justice system Ms. Kimmel would like to see reformed. Perhaps, through more advocacy work in the future, the “broken” system can be mended.
“I would love to write more laws. I love advocacy work, so I would love to write more laws for victims in any way that I can,” she said.
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*Source: Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network Statistics (RAINN)
**Source: “Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2016 (2017);
ii. Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2016 (2017);
iii. Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2016 (2017);
iv. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2009 (2013).
(This statistic combines information from several federal government reports. Because it combines data from studies with different methodologies, it is an approximation, not a scientific estimate. Please see the original sources for more detailed information. These statistics are updated annually and as new information is published.)”
Jordan Kimmel with family