Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com, “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Because of the sexual assault kits, this is how Loebe was found guilty of multiple crimes. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another, in order to put the pieces together to find the criminal. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” Rape kits are one of the advantages of having advanced technologies. They have expanded the authorities knowledge of finding criminals and making it easier and more resourceful. There are multiple cases that are still not resolved and need to be re investigated. So once they reopen the case and use the sexual assault kit, they will be able to resolve the case. Loebe’s DNA was in the system from prior convictions and the first testing of the kit his profile came up. Having advanced technology and being able to have resources such as the sexual assault kit is making law enforcement authorities able to find criminals more efficiently. #notaplumber003
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, mostly due to your wide vocabulary and use of our major-specific terminology. Something you mentioned in your post that I didn’t was how he used different names every time he met these girls he sexually assaulted, making it incredibly hard for him to be tracked down. I also like how you went more in depth than I did on the topic of how advanced our technology is becoming, as well as the constant evolution of it, as well as our mindsets of different crimes and procedures. Your closing statement couldn’t have been more true- as we continue to develop our mindsets and technology, the criminal conviction rate should continue to rise higher and higher. GMan003
These sort of serial offenders with these kinds of horrendous crimes are something that have always got my blood boiling. Nathan Loebe, a "Tucson man," has just recently been convicted of raping 7 women over a 12-year period. Before the recent past, the “old-view” on using rape test kits was that it really wasn’t worth using a test-kit on an case in which one person said it was consensual, while the other said there was no consent. I can see why this view was once the case, being as the sexual assault kits do not tell you whether or not consent was given by both participating parties. Due to this old mindset having changed relatively recently, the police agencies that arrested Loebe found him guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 count of attempted sexual assault from crimes that occured between 2003 and 2015. The way Loebe completed these crimes, according to the victims, was by impersonating an old famous child star and luring/seducing these women before drugging them, or by meeting them on online dating sites or at local bars. Once drugged, Loebe had his way with them and if they went to the police, he simply said it was consensual so no further investigating was really done into any of those cases. I think this is a major step for our law enforcement agencies, being as so many more cases are being reopened for further investigation now. This new way of thinking is considered the “forklift approach,” in which every rape kit is tested, regardless of the investigation details (whether or not someone said it was consensual when another claimed it was the latter). According to the ABC news article, the Tucson PD received a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. So far, this grant has funded the testing of 1,450 additional cases that previously there was no money for. The state has also taken to providing more funding, adding approximately 500 more kits, so provide for further investigations into older and newer cases. GMan003
I as well get very angry, and frustrated when reading about men who rape that many women. It doesn't make sense to me that a man who raped that many women, kidnapped people, and even stalked people got away with those crimes for that long. I also think that rape test kits could be a huge game changer in the law enforcement field. I think that it could, and can solve a lot of unsolved rape cases, and give victims much more closure knowing that their predator is behind bars, and not terrorizing women. Hopefully we continue to use the kits, to crack down on predators. I-Like-Cereal003
Being sexually assaulted can be a very dramatizing to someone. It could take a long, long time for someone to heal from it especially if it was a long period of time. SAEK stands for Sexual Assault Evidence Kit is also known as a rape kit. Using rape kits on victims can really help to know for sure if they were sexually assaulted for sure. Sometimes victims memory can quickly fade after that type of trauma was done to them. Police can also get a lot of information from it. Police can get DNA from the tests. This will also help narrow the suspect pool down. Rape kits can help in a situation where someone lies about being raped just for the attention or whatever their reason would be. These rape kits don’t show whether it was consensual or not. That is one of the bad parts of the rape kits. Police received a grant to test rape kits and changed the “mindset” over which kits get tested. This case helped rape kits gain trust in law enforcement, judges and over government officials. After this case, more detectives or investigators will be more likely to use rape kits because they are now respected and more valuable in court. Looking at the graph of all the backlogged rape kits is stunning. Seeing all the states that are more than 1,000 behind is stunning. Looking at the graph, I would think that New York would have one of the most in all states but they aren’t that backlogged. Tuscon Police Department got a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan Districts Attorney office that went towards funding a project to support the testing of rape kit backlogs. Reading this article, really brings the light to how much law enforcement relies on the rape kits and how nice they are when they can be tested. -chicubs003
When it comes to this type of story it started off as a bad thing but became kind of a happy ending. These several women identities were taken from them and they wont ever be able to get that back. They will be traumatized for the rest of there lives. But towards the end they talk about testing all the rape kits no matter the situation which I feel should have been done way before now. This helps catch criminals so that victim can finally have peace. It is a good start but there are a lot of sexual assault cases out there so it will take time. Batman003
It’s insane and extremely disturbing that a person that commited all of these heinous acts over and over again managed to get away with them for so long. He sexually assaulted many women and even stalked and kidnapped. These backlog rape kids could really change the criminal justice system and that makes me happy as it is something i'm passionate about. Being sexually assaulted is a very traumatic experience for a person, and having the suspect charged really could help bring the person some closure and to heal from the assault. I hope his victims are better now and that they have healed. I look forward to hearing more about how the backlog rape kits help other survivors as well.-pizza002
I also think that it is important that we continue to use these Sexual Assault Evidence Kits. I personally think that they should be used in every case when a person reports that they have been raped. It is crazy that Nathan Loebe was able to get away with his crimes for such a long time. It makes you wonder how many other innocent individuals reported rape and the situation never was handled properly. In my opinion, I think that Nathan Loebe should be locked up for the rest of his life. People like him do not need sunlight. They need to be locked away where they can't hurt others. I am very thankful for the fact that we as a country use these rape kits. -Anchorman003
Sexual assault is traumatic and touchy situation for individual. He or she is being deprived of their since identity Nathan Loebe is a serial rapist from Tucson, who has raped seven women over the course of twelve years. Also he has five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assaults from cases that occurred between the years of 2003 and 2015. Before the people in Tucson's law was if you have a situation where the victim reported it was without consent but the defendant or suspect reported that it was with consent and there was nothing to corroborate either way, there was the idea that maybe it wasn’t worth testing the sexual assault kit because it doesn’t show consent versus lack of consent. Nathan Loebe would meet these women in a bar or from an online dating site. Each time he would meet up with these different women he would choose a different name so nobody would ever be able to identify him. The victims claimed that they would go have drinks with him and then lose consciousness and that is when he would sexually assault the women. Because of all these different reports authorities decided to start testing these rape kits and comparing them to each other. Loebe DNA had been in the system from prior convictions and when they tested it with other samples he was a match. Rape kits are one of the amazing things in law enforcement because it helps tell who did the crime. These sexual assault kits are making it easier to catch the criminals that’s committing these crimes. When DNA was found it is entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) to see if there’s a match to someone or someone with past convictions and identity the person. Batman003
I agree with what your saying about how it is a traumatic and a touchy subject for someone. I disagree with them not using the rape kit when the suspect said it was consent. I feel that it is very unfair to the victim and how could the police just trust what the suspect has to say about the situation. Obviously the suspect is going to do or say what benifets them and what would not get them in trouble. Thankful the police department was able to go back and use the rape kit to catch Nathan Loebe. Otherwise he would probably still be out doing what he was doing to many other women. -brooklyn003
I agree with you that these are some of the most traumatic crimes for victims and we owe them some closure. I think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. Sexual assault cases are some of the most the law enforcement and prosecutors will have to deal with. -RHB003
It always amazes me how one person can get away with committing such horrible crimes, for that length of time. Nathan Loebe, was found guilty on 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 attempted sexual assault. Rape test kits come into play, when there is a he said she said type moment. When one person said that the sexual interaction was consensual, and the other person says it was not consensual. If it weren't for rape test kits, Nathan Loebe would never have been convicted. It amazes me that when a man is constantly lying about his life, and raping girls over and over again, you would think that someone would step forward and say something. I think it was a smart idea for police to start testing every single rape case, and not letting the investigation details get in the way. They tested enough, and started to get a build up, and a lead on Nathan Loebe. I think all police departments should begin funding programs, that involve rape test kits. Tucson Police department began doing that to ensure no U.S sanctions were violated. Rape test kits could ultimately be game changer, in the law enforcement field. It could completely shrink the numbers of the amount of unsolved sexual assault, and rape cases, and put more predators behind bars. Like Nathan Loebe a disgusting man taken off the streets do to a rape test kit, that gave investigators leads pointing towards him. What I do not agree with is going back to investigate rape cases from the 1990s. The article states that they have 400 cases that need to be investigated from 1988 to 2016. I think that if it happened that long ago all the evidence is probably gone. I-Like-Cereal003
I feel as though he would have continued to get away with these crimes and committed more had they not changed the way they were processing these kits and continued to use the "old" method. I thing its ridiculous that a crime such as rape would ever be questioned as to whether or not the act was consensual or not. If someone says I am raped you should automatically do the kit and then work your investigation to determine if the act was consensual. This way you took the proper steps and made the effort so that if it is to you have everything you need. When you make victims feel like they are lying this is where you run into the issue of those that don't want to testify or even speak out in fear that someone will treat them as the perpetrator and not the victim. Jadist003
I do think using rape kit is useful to catch bad guys from the street, Many communities rape kit testing efforts are taking violent offenders off the streets, many whom have escaped justice for decades and improving public safety. jurisdictions across the country have began to witness the benefit of testing every rape kit. When tested, rape kit evidence can identify an unknown assailant link crimes together, and identify serial offenders. It can also confirm the presence of a known suspect, affirm the survivors account of the attack, discredit the suspect, and exonerate the innocent. Testing rape kit also saves communities millions of dollars. We also see that DNA in sexual assault cases is part of investigation which of result is completed perfectly and the right person is convicted. When law enforcement investigate cases of sexual violence DNA evidence can make or break the outcome. it is often an important tool in achieving justice for survivors of sexual assault Gusii 003
I agree that using a rape kit can be very beneficial. If a person sexually assaults someone, they should not get away with. I get heated every time someone doesn't get the justice they deserve when it comes to this. The stories I hear, sometimes the person did not get near enough jail time as they should of. These rape kits could also help prevent the wrong person getting incarcerated in jail or prison. There was a story I heard one time and this guy got accused of raping this girl but he claimed he didn't do it and he spent time in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I think he spent around eight years in prison. People that get wrongly accused and go to prison are never going to get that time back. -Soccer003
With people such as Loebe being out there, I think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. One of the examples that the article used was that they did not test one of them because one person said that it was done with consent and the other person was saying that they did not give consent, so they were not going to test it because it would not prove that a sexual assault had occurred. While I think that this is true, I think that it is still very important to still test all of these kits, even if it does not prove that they sexually assaulted someone but if you see the same person every once in a while, you can maybe start putting the pieces together and build a case on that person and eventually you will be able to convict them. It is good to see that they were able to get a grant to test a bunch of these rape kits even though they still have a lot of the cases to investigate, they are making some really good progress, and we need to keep on this track so we can protect the victims and get these people that are committing these sexual assaults off of the streets. People like Nathan Loebe who were found guilty of twelve counts of sexual assault and more should be a motivation to get these people off of the streets. It is very important to investigate and test every single one of these rape kits. -Steel003
The police and others within the criminal justice system had a process of handling rape cases. This process had great intentions for a positive outcome. This approach was based on if the supposed victim filled a report saying it was without consent while the defendant claimed the action was a mutual consent, that report would then get neglected at large. The authorities would only test the rape kit with both parties confessed it was without consent. This situation is rare, by this only a few kits were tested. Nathan Loebe had raped seven women within a twelve-year time frame. He resided in Arizona, within the county of Pima. He also had other criminal activity which include five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault. His victims were picked up in a few different ways, some with late night bar activities while others were through several different online dating sites. Nathan Loebe would usually spike the drink that these women were drinking. The women had reported a lost consciousness or they became incapacitated. After these women became incapable, he would then sexually assault them. His actions are devasting to his victim. It took the authorities twelve years for them to locate and charge him. This case shook the mindset of law enforcement officers. They started to think critically about the process of sexual assault reports. They had a specific operation for this line of crime that at the time seemed to be effective, however this case challenged this order of operations drastically. They realized this system of only testing rape kits that both parties agreed to that there was a lack of consent was extremely unreliable and one sided. Following this case, the authorities changed their protocol. Now all rape kits will get tested no matter if there is no consent on either party. Due to this redemption, there is severe backlog of rape kits waiting to get tested. -CoalRoller033
After reading this article it is crazy to think how one person got away with many rapes for so long. Nathan Loebe was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking and 1 count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press. If there were not rape test kits Nathan Loebe wouldn’t of got caught and would probably still be doing those things today. Rape kits come in handy when there's a two-sided story. When one person says it was with consent and the other says it was without consent. Just like with Loebe all he had to say was that it was with consent and he got away with it. I think this is very unfair to the victim because the police don't get their side of the story and the suspect could be lying. I think it was a very bright idea when police started to test every rape case and to not just decide based on the story. This way the suspect is unable to lie about it and it's more evidence. Many of the victims said they met Nathan Loebe in a bar or through an online dating site and said he provided false names and lied about who he was. The victims also stated that they had drinks with Loebe but then later on became unconscious or incapacitated.In, 2015 the Tuscan Police Department received a $1 million grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. This funded a project to support the testing of rape kit backlogs from settlements with international banks that violated U.S. sanctions. They used the grant for testing of about 1,450 cases and out of those cases 839 DNA profiles have been entered into CODIS. There was 364 hits to people who have been convicted or arrested for certain felonies. This shows how great rape kits work and how many people can be caught just by using a rape kit. -brooklyn003
The amount of backlogs from state-to-state is just insane. Looking at the chart on the article I can see that at least five states have over 8,000 rape kits that haven't been tested. It's hard to think about how many people have gotten away with rape because of this backlog, how many people are still running free because of it? It's good that a method for catching serial rapists is being used, and that extra steps are being taken to test these kits using what they called the forklift approach. The forklift approach is where they test all of the untested rape kits regardless of investigation details and then try to match the results to people who have already entered the system. In the article they talked about using this method, they tested 1450 kits they found 839 DNA profiles and they found the 364 of those DNA profiles have been convicted or arrested before. While this isn't the most immediate way to find a rapist at least it can work. It's even shown working in the article, a man who was indeed a serial rapist. With 12 counts of sexual assault five counts of kidnapping three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault this man seems very dangerous and because of the kits they were able to prove that he committed the crime.- waterboy003
The use of rape kits was and is incredibly effective, it helps the victims that do report rape either catch the person who did it as long as they are in the system or prove the person they accused of doing it. Rape leaves an everlasting impression on someone and it has been a long struggle for it to be taken seriously, sometimes even now justice isn’t truly served. Reading this article it’s scary to see how someone can seem so nice and what some people would call normal. The article takes the statements from different women saying they met Loebe at the bar, because he provided false identification on an online dating site, when they met they had drinks and the woman ended up losing consciousness and then was raped. Rape doesn’t only happen to a woman, it can happen to men too. It’s scary how manipulative people can be, hiding who they are, acting like they are good when they have cruel intentions. I didn’t know that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assault in Arizona, not that many women want the past to be brought back up but if they didn’t get justice it might be nice for them to open up the wound one more time to finally close it. It might also be nice for the people who were working on the case to finally close a case as well. I know as a women I can be a little more scared in situations where I’m alone around men I don’t know, like if I go to the movies or if I go on a walk I am a little on edge that someone might scoop me. Ark003
Reading the article “Serial rapist Nathan Loebe convicted in Pima County, Arizona, after testing of rape kit backlog” was eye opening. To read that this rapist had the opportunity to sexually assault women for over a 12 year period due to back logged rape kits is shocking. I don’t see how the old view of when to test a rape kit was legal. If have a case where rape is suspected, one would think testing a rape kit would be automatic and not questioned whether to not the sexual act was consensual. It is also shocking to know that due to the large amount of backlogs thousands of women and maybe some men too are left without justice being served or even in some cases finding their rapist. ‘Forklift’ approach should always be used, by testing every rape kit regardless of the details of whether or not the act was consensual. In not using this method one would thing there would be a large number of law suits with DNA evidence being entered into CODIS and Index after the fact. What if the perpetrator is now deceased. The only saving grace is that there is no statue of limitations on rape cases. Jadist003
It is crazy that this man was able to get away from with these rapes for 12 years. It has to be awful for these women to know this man was able to get away with it because of poor performance of the police. I understand that it takes time and money but 12 years is a bit excessive. It was also crazy that with that million dollar grant that they were only have to do 4,500 back log cases. That goes to show you how expensive it is to test these kits. -ClarkKent003
After reading this article, I am reminded of how frustrating and terrible people can be. It is extremely sad that there are people out there who can commit horrible crimes such as rape and sexual assault. It is also very frustrating how slow the criminal justice system can be in getting around to these cases and testing the rape kits and everything. This serial rapist was able to be walking around and commit more violent acts for twelve years while his victims did not get justice during that time and have to live with traumatic experiences for the rest of their lives. The article had shown that there are thousands of untested rape kits which is unacceptable. The map of the states showing the backlog of kits in each one was astonishing. What has caused such a tremendous backlog? I am glad we are able to get to some of the cases and solve them especially when it's one person committing several acts of sexual assault. Hopefully we are able to catch up to the crazy amount of backlog in the next few years and provide justice and some sort of peace of mind to victims.
I love the idea of sexual assault kits and think they are extremely helpful. The only thing we could advance on is making the process speed up so we can get instanesous results back immediately. These cases are also so backed up with the government because they’re so many once we get to the case it is hard to get any more evidence. The faster we make the process, the less cases we will have to solve and the more evidence we can get by being so on time. Overtime, of a sexual assault crime it is hard to gain any more evidence than what you received that day. #notaplumber003
There are tons of rape kits that have been backlog causing many criminal to get away with their crimes. In 2015 the Tucson Police Department received a million dollar grant that help with the backlog of rape kits. With that million dollars they were only able to test about 1450 kits. Another grant will allow the police department to be able to finish off the 500 kits that still need to be tested. Of those 1450 rape kits tested 36 hit on people who have been convicted of other felonies. With such a backlog a man was able to go 12 years before he was finally caught by the police. 12 years went by before the victim of a rape got her justice. This man raped 7 women over a 12 year period before the police were able to catch him. This absolutely needs to change. It should not take this long for the police to get rape kits tested. I can see why the police would not want to test a kit because of the question if it was consent or not. It cost money and time. But I also believe they should do the test no matter what, they need to look at the big picture not just case by case. The kit they test might not be a match for they case they are working but it might match another that had happen or in the future. In the case of Loebe, this man was a serial rapist that raped many women in many different states. The police tested all of the kits and finally were able to make a case against him. It is nice that many places do not have a statute of limitations on this crime. It might take awhile but justice will come to these criminals. -ClarkKent003
I am so glad we have new movements like this happening. One of the most frustrating thing for some of these victims is, like you mentioned, the time it takes to actually prosecute and charge someone with rape. These victims already had to go through the event itself, and then on top of that they have people who don't believe them that it was actually rape in he said/she said situations. So to see this type of grant be given to help so many peoples cases is amazing to see. -AS003
This video is a perfect example of how evolving mentalities in a law enforcement can change the outcome of people's lives. Reading the article it states that prosecutors would not do anything about a he said she said rape case. They said the rape kits would not show consent versus lack of consent. Now, due to the changing mindsets, a man in Arizona, Nathan Loebe, was finally convicted after he committed at least 12 known/ reported rapes. I am sure this does not include the ones who did not report the incident. This is all due to a $1 million grant the Tucson Police Department received in 2015. This grant let the department test more than 1,400 cold case rape kits. These kits were never given the chance to be looked into. Out of all the rape kits that were tested, about 839 individual’s DNA was added to the database. The sad part is, that of the 839, there were 364 of those that have been convicted or arrested for felonies. It is stated that within the first month of testing these kits, Loebe’s DNA showed up on more than one of the rape kits. This allowed them to show a series of connections to rapes from Loebe. The mindset that he said/she said cases are too hard to solve was shut down because of these tests. This one case in particular show that it is possible to see trends and convict people, especially when there is a trend for an individual’s DNA to be showing up on rape kits. I am grateful to have been shown this article. It really opens my eyes to the cruel world of rape and just how frustrating it is for rape victims who feel like no one believes them. -AS003
Im glad that you mentioned the video, I at first missed it and went back to watch it (thought it was a photo of a rape kit). I did not know that you can have a rape kit done without filing a report with the police. I do know that there is a demand for Sexual Assault nurse examiners. Mendoza just had a bill passed for sexual assault victims to be seen and to have and examination done within the first hour of being in the emergency room along with to always have a sexual assault nurse examiner in the the hospitals emergency department. casket003
The articles starts out with stating that Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com, “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Due to the sexual assault kits, Loebe was found guilty of multiple crimes. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. You could tell that Loebe was very methodical in his craft. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. That is just terrible what he was doing to these women. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another, in order to put the pieces together to find the criminal. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” This caused a new way of thinking, called, the “forklift approach,” in which every rape kit is tested, regardless of the investigation details. According to the ABC news article, the Tucson PD received a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. So far, this grant has funded the testing of 1,450 additional cases that previously there was no money for. The state has also taken to providing more funding, adding approximately 500 more kits which I think is a really good thing for the state to do. Overall, the article got me somewhat angry and just mad at what this individual was able to do to his victims in such a cowardly way as well. -CUBSFAN003
Reading this article about serial rapist Nathan Loebe makes me feel good that this guy finally got caught but it’s terrible to learn that many people are still waiting to get justice for crimes committed against them. The backlog of sexual assault kits is something I hope can be addressed in a meaningful way soon so that all the people who are victims can get some sense of justice. One thing from the article that stood out to me was that re-opening these investigations can be traumatizing to the victim as they are forced to open previously closed wounds. I’m sure that’s tough for people who are victims of sexual assault, on hand you want to do whatever you can to get justice but I imagine if you’ve spent years working on moving on and you finally get to a place where you don’t think about it all the time it would be terrible to have to revisit that. It seems like it should be an easy decision to cooperate with an investigation against the person who assaulted you but it really isn’t when you factor in the potential trauma involved. I did find it interesting to read about how a changing approach to sexual assault crimes is helping. Instead of looking at these things on a case by case basis we can start looking at patterns to see a bigger picture. It can be difficult to prove whether consent was given or not if you look at each case individually but seeing that pattern and bigger picture emerge allows us to see behavior trends we might otherwise miss. Avatar003
"The idea that maybe it wasn't worth testing a sexual assault kit because it doesn't show consent versus lack of consent," What Nicol Green told Abc News". However, that I understand it's a he said she said case. It is also much more than that. whether there was or wasn't consent the kit should have been tested regardless to prove that a sexual encounter had occurred. Nathan Loebe went on for 12 years sexually assaulting seven women because police didn't have the funds to test rape kits. One assault is one to many but for seven assaults to occur and to get away with it for twelve years is horrendous. It amazes me that the department was able to test 1,450 cases due to a grant and that they have about 500 kits left to test. what is even sad is that 400 cases have to be re-investigated. Which is another hurtle that has to be overcome. 30-year-old cases are being reopened because new evidence has been "essentially found" but it is evidence they have been sitting on along due to lack funding. So essentially new lives and families will be affected due to the reopening of the case as well as the victim. Details of what happened during the night of their assault is even more cloudy than what it was 30 years ago. There should always be funding for testing of rape kits. If the government can keep taxing us for the same things why not develop a tax for something that truly matters and can potentially save a life and a family for that matter. Twelve years is to long to wait for justice and to see your perpetrator locked up. I hope that these victims will finally get justice in the end. casket003
Yeah it's frustrating to hear that there is such a huge backlog of sexual assault kits. Especially if you consider that each one of those potentially represents someone who is trying to get justice for a crime committed against them. I'd also like to see more resources dedicated to getting through the backlog. The fact that so many people are waiting years to hear back from these is just not acceptable. Avatar003
This article talks about rape kits and how the government is trying to use them more. The article focuses on the case of Nathan Loebe who was arrested in Kentucky about a sexual assault. The rape kit backlog was the reason that he is being prosecuted because they found enough evidence in the kit to form a case. I don’t know why there’s any debate over rape kits because they seem to be very helpful. There have been a lot of cases recently in the media where girls are getting raped at parties and can’t get justice because they didn’t take a rape kit test and they can’t find enough evidence. Or, they come out in a few years and say that they were raped years ago and they can’t find evidence to prosecute the rapist. R Kelly is a big name in the media now for that reason, and they can’t find evidence. I think that rape kits should be a mandatory thing that you have to do if you are raped. That way they can get the best evidence to fight for your case. They also talk about statue of limitations and how there isn’t one for sexual assault in Arizona. This means that no matter when the crime is brought to the attention of the police, it can still be investigated. I think that there should be a statue of limitations on sexual assault cases because it would give the victim another reason to come forward as soon or soon after the rape happened. So many rapists don’t pay the consequences because the victims don’t tell anyone until years after it happened and by then it’s just too difficult to get enough evidence to form a case. Rape kits can be the key to solving a lot of these rape mysteries. Celtics003
Nathan Loebe was convicted of raping seven women over the course of twelve years Not only was nathan charged with seven counts of sexual assault ,but for five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking, and one attempted rape. All of which occurred between 2003 to 2015. According to the article, the victims would meet the man at the bar, or via an online dating website. He would give them fake names, and lie about who he was. Majority of the victims reported that they had drinks with the man and either lost consciousness or became incapacitated. Nathan Lobe had already been a suspect in sexual assault cases, but claimed that the sexual activity was consensual. How things used to work was that if there was a situation where the victim said it wasn’t consensual, but the suspect said it was consensual, and that there was no way to tell either way, that a sexual assault kit wasn’t worth it because it doesn't show if there was consent or no consent. Law enforcement’s started every rape kit no matter the investigation details, also known as the “forklift approach”. This was how they were abe to build a case against Loebe. In 2015, the Tucson County Police Department received a grant from the Manhattan district attorney’s office. This grant covered the testing for approximately 1,450 rape kits. How rape kits work are the collect evidence from the victims body and clothing, including possible DNA evidence. When the evidence is found, it is entered into CODIS, to see if it matches a person that has already committed an offense to identify the assaulter. Loebe’s DNA was already in the system from a prior charge, and it was found from more than one kit within a month. After five years of work doing the backlog rape kits, Nathan Loebe is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on April 22nd. -pizza003
I think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. Sexual assault cases are some of the most the law enforcement and prosecutors will have to deal with. Many times going back and revisiting cases with interviewing victims can be an extremely dramatic experience for the victims who are just trying to put that situation behind them. The article explains how important these rape kids are because as we see from reading the article A serial rapist from Arizona who had been raping women for over 12 years was current because of many rape and sexual assault cases being reopened. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another. Another astonishing dang I noticed when reading through this article was in the image of the map and it was color coordinated to show the amount of backlog we have across America for rape kits. The statistics should be extremely startling to the American people and it does not instill any confidence in do you victims when they go long periods of time without their kits even being looked at. -RHB003
Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com. “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Thanks to the sexual assault kit because without them he wouldn’t have gotten found. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” the assault kit has been very helpful and a BIG reason for many solved cases in the criminal justice field. This case helped rape kits gain trust in law enforcement, judges and over government officials. Loebe DNA had been in the system from prior convictions and when they tested it with other samples he was a match. Rape kits are one of the amazing things in law enforcement because it helps tell who did the crime.When DNA was found it is entered into CODIS (C)ombined (D)NA (I)ndex (S)ystem) to see if there’s a match to someone or someone with past convictions and identity the person. It is very important to investigate and test every single one of these rape kits.-KenzieLand003
Nathan Loebe was charged and found guilty of sexually assaulting a total of twelve people. He got away with it for a long time because of the fact that no one was able to tell if the person actually consented or did not consent to sex. Being sexually assaulted is something that should never occur in a person’s life. It is a terrible thing for a person to do to another individual. Being sexually assaulted changes a person’s life forever and they will always be hurt from that traumatic experience that they went through. When it comes to sexual assault, Sexual Assault Evidence Kits are able to play a large role in helping figure out if an individual was actual raped or not. Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, AKA also known as Rape Kits are used whenever someone reports to the police that they have been raped. Rape kits have their downfalls such as the fact that they are not able to tell whether or not the individual actually consented to sex or not. What the these rape kits do test for is DNA. The way these tests are used to see whether a person actually consented or not is through CODIS. CODIS is Combined DNA Index System. This system is able to match individuals if they have been accused of rape in the past and sees if it matches up with anyone at all. Thanks to rape kits Nathan Loebe was charged and incarcerated for the crimes that he committed towards these individuals. Nathan Loebe in my opinion is a disgrace of a human being. He is a monster for doing these crimes. I am very thankful for rape kits because I think being sexually assaulted should happen to no one. It is disgusting and inhumane to do this to someone. -Anchorman003
It does need to be brought up that these test are not one hundred percent perfect and like you said the rape kit test doesn't test if the person consented to sex or not. CODIS is a great program but in the end this falls under a judgment call and the consistency or inconsistency of the story being told. The people that commit these crimes (the act of rape and falsely accusing someone of rape) have no idea the lifetime affects it will have on the person. Ark003
Nathan Loebe was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year time period. He was convicted after the police got a grant so they could test rape kits. Law enforcement were able to create a case against Loebe because they started to test every rape kit. The police department in Tucson got a one million dollar grant in 2015. The grant came from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that is located in New York. This was able to fund the project to support testings of the rape kit backlogs. Rape kits are meant to gather evidence from clothing or the victim's body. This can also include DNA evidence.Once they find some DNA evidence, they put it into the Combined DNA Index System or the CODIS. They do this so that they can try to find a match to a specific person that has a past offense and they also want to try and identify serial offenders. 1,450 kits were funded by that grant. 839 DNA profiles have been put into the CODIS and they were able to find 364 people that have been convicted or arrested for specific felonies. It said that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assault in Arizona. There is a statute of limitations in Illinois but there is no statute of limitations for arson. I have always wondered this is the way it is. Some people that get sexual assaulted might not know who did it to them. Testing these rape kits and finding matches might help bring these people closure. People that commit sexual assault and get away with it, should not get away with it. They should not be walking on the streets. If people don’t try and catch these people, this could potentially happen to someone else. Some people that have been sexually assaulted have PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc. No one deserves to go through that. -Soccer003
Seven women within a 12-year period is a lot of gaps from every action that was taken in the case. It says in one of the quotes “The recognition that this is a way to identify serial rapist’s kind of took hold”. The rape kit backlog state by state is really eye opening with some states with 8,000+, just goes to show how behind the states are. One of the main reason that convicted Nathan Loebe was because of the rape kits that were put into effect. The grant funded 1450 kits, Tucson police said, “We have approximately 400 cases that need to be re-investigated that go back from 1988 to 2016.” With a conviction is a conviction even if it was 10 to 20 years ago. Loebe was wanted in Colorado, Massachusetts and Ohio. Loebe was a serial rapist some would say because of the other warrants in other states and the 9 women that testified. The grant has and is making cases and DNA easier to come by. The states are so far behind in the calls and cases we may never catch up but to have a game plan now with this grant starting, should open the door for many more researchers and law enforcement to come. Rapists and the public safety of stalking is real and is huge deal for women and children’s safety hopefully these cases and many starts as a eye opener, to start taking a lead or next in other cases. DirtTrack003
With this man, The victims claimed that they would go have drinks with him and then lose consciousness and that is when he would sexually assault the women. Nathan Loebe, was found guilty on 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 attempted sexual assault. The article states that they have 400 cases that need to be investigated from 1988 to 2016. This is just sad. It took twelve years for this man to properly be identified. The fact that these rape tests have almost been pushed to the side as a we will get to it when we can type ordeal, is just disheartening. These people went through such traumatic events and they are waiting years upon years to get answers and have justice be served, even if the evidence is still viable by then or the person is still alive or all the other possibilities present. Rape tests are so important because even if there are two sides to the story, these can be used to help prove fact. Rape should not be taken lightly or seen as unimportant because these people went through something horrific to be disregarded. They tested 1450 kits they found 839 DNA profiles and they found the 364 of those DNA profiles have been convicted or arrested before. This is still just as horrifying. How slow this process is, is disheartening. To know that tomorrow, If I was sexually assaulted, I could wait for ten years to suddenly get a phone call for justice to be served. -holywaffles003
Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com, “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Because of the sexual assault kits, this is how Loebe was found guilty of multiple crimes. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another, in order to put the pieces together to find the criminal. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” Rape kits are one of the advantages of having advanced technologies. They have expanded the authorities knowledge of finding criminals and making it easier and more resourceful. There are multiple cases that are still not resolved and need to be re investigated. So once they reopen the case and use the sexual assault kit, they will be able to resolve the case. Loebe’s DNA was in the system from prior convictions and the first testing of the kit his profile came up. Having advanced technology and being able to have resources such as the sexual assault kit is making law enforcement authorities able to find criminals more efficiently. #notaplumber003
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, mostly due to your wide vocabulary and use of our major-specific terminology. Something you mentioned in your post that I didn’t was how he used different names every time he met these girls he sexually assaulted, making it incredibly hard for him to be tracked down. I also like how you went more in depth than I did on the topic of how advanced our technology is becoming, as well as the constant evolution of it, as well as our mindsets of different crimes and procedures. Your closing statement couldn’t have been more true- as we continue to develop our mindsets and technology, the criminal conviction rate should continue to rise higher and higher. GMan003
DeleteThese sort of serial offenders with these kinds of horrendous crimes are something that have always got my blood boiling. Nathan Loebe, a "Tucson man," has just recently been convicted of raping 7 women over a 12-year period. Before the recent past, the “old-view” on using rape test kits was that it really wasn’t worth using a test-kit on an case in which one person said it was consensual, while the other said there was no consent. I can see why this view was once the case, being as the sexual assault kits do not tell you whether or not consent was given by both participating parties. Due to this old mindset having changed relatively recently, the police agencies that arrested Loebe found him guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 count of attempted sexual assault from crimes that occured between 2003 and 2015. The way Loebe completed these crimes, according to the victims, was by impersonating an old famous child star and luring/seducing these women before drugging them, or by meeting them on online dating sites or at local bars. Once drugged, Loebe had his way with them and if they went to the police, he simply said it was consensual so no further investigating was really done into any of those cases. I think this is a major step for our law enforcement agencies, being as so many more cases are being reopened for further investigation now. This new way of thinking is considered the “forklift approach,” in which every rape kit is tested, regardless of the investigation details (whether or not someone said it was consensual when another claimed it was the latter). According to the ABC news article, the Tucson PD received a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. So far, this grant has funded the testing of 1,450 additional cases that previously there was no money for. The state has also taken to providing more funding, adding approximately 500 more kits, so provide for further investigations into older and newer cases. GMan003
ReplyDeleteI as well get very angry, and frustrated when reading about men who rape that many women. It doesn't make sense to me that a man who raped that many women, kidnapped people, and even stalked people got away with those crimes for that long. I also think that rape test kits could be a huge game changer in the law enforcement field. I think that it could, and can solve a lot of unsolved rape cases, and give victims much more closure knowing that their predator is behind bars, and not terrorizing women. Hopefully we continue to use the kits, to crack down on predators.
DeleteI-Like-Cereal003
Being sexually assaulted can be a very dramatizing to someone. It could take a long, long time for someone to heal from it especially if it was a long period of time. SAEK stands for Sexual Assault Evidence Kit is also known as a rape kit. Using rape kits on victims can really help to know for sure if they were sexually assaulted for sure. Sometimes victims memory can quickly fade after that type of trauma was done to them. Police can also get a lot of information from it. Police can get DNA from the tests. This will also help narrow the suspect pool down. Rape kits can help in a situation where someone lies about being raped just for the attention or whatever their reason would be. These rape kits don’t show whether it was consensual or not. That is one of the bad parts of the rape kits. Police received a grant to test rape kits and changed the “mindset” over which kits get tested. This case helped rape kits gain trust in law enforcement, judges and over government officials. After this case, more detectives or investigators will be more likely to use rape kits because they are now respected and more valuable in court. Looking at the graph of all the backlogged rape kits is stunning. Seeing all the states that are more than 1,000 behind is stunning. Looking at the graph, I would think that New York would have one of the most in all states but they aren’t that backlogged. Tuscon Police Department got a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan Districts Attorney office that went towards funding a project to support the testing of rape kit backlogs. Reading this article, really brings the light to how much law enforcement relies on the rape kits and how nice they are when they can be tested. -chicubs003
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to this type of story it started off as a bad thing but became kind of a happy ending. These several women identities were taken from them and they wont ever be able to get that back. They will be traumatized for the rest of there lives. But towards the end they talk about testing all the rape kits no matter the situation which I feel should have been done way before now. This helps catch criminals so that victim can finally have peace. It is a good start but there are a lot of sexual assault cases out there so it will take time. Batman003
DeleteIt’s insane and extremely disturbing that a person that commited all of these heinous acts over and over again managed to get away with them for so long. He sexually assaulted many women and even stalked and kidnapped. These backlog rape kids could really change the criminal justice system and that makes me happy as it is something i'm passionate about. Being sexually assaulted is a very traumatic experience for a person, and having the suspect charged really could help bring the person some closure and to heal from the assault. I hope his victims are better now and that they have healed. I look forward to hearing more about how the backlog rape kits help other survivors as well.-pizza002
DeleteI also think that it is important that we continue to use these Sexual Assault Evidence Kits. I personally think that they should be used in every case when a person reports that they have been raped. It is crazy that Nathan Loebe was able to get away with his crimes for such a long time. It makes you wonder how many other innocent individuals reported rape and the situation never was handled properly. In my opinion, I think that Nathan Loebe should be locked up for the rest of his life. People like him do not need sunlight. They need to be locked away where they can't hurt others. I am very thankful for the fact that we as a country use these rape kits. -Anchorman003
DeleteSexual assault is traumatic and touchy situation for individual. He or she is being deprived of their since identity Nathan Loebe is a serial rapist from Tucson, who has raped seven women over the course of twelve years. Also he has five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assaults from cases that occurred between the years of 2003 and 2015. Before the people in Tucson's law was if you have a situation where the victim reported it was without consent but the defendant or suspect reported that it was with consent and there was nothing to corroborate either way, there was the idea that maybe it wasn’t worth testing the sexual assault kit because it doesn’t show consent versus lack of consent. Nathan Loebe would meet these women in a bar or from an online dating site. Each time he would meet up with these different women he would choose a different name so nobody would ever be able to identify him. The victims claimed that they would go have drinks with him and then lose consciousness and that is when he would sexually assault the women. Because of all these different reports authorities decided to start testing these rape kits and comparing them to each other. Loebe DNA had been in the system from prior convictions and when they tested it with other samples he was a match. Rape kits are one of the amazing things in law enforcement because it helps tell who did the crime. These sexual assault kits are making it easier to catch the criminals that’s committing these crimes. When DNA was found it is entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) to see if there’s a match to someone or someone with past convictions and identity the person. Batman003
ReplyDeleteI agree with what your saying about how it is a traumatic and a touchy subject for someone. I disagree with them not using the rape kit when the suspect said it was consent. I feel that it is very unfair to the victim and how could the police just trust what the suspect has to say about the situation. Obviously the suspect is going to do or say what benifets them and what would not get them in trouble. Thankful the police department was able to go back and use the rape kit to catch Nathan Loebe. Otherwise he would probably still be out doing what he was doing to many other women. -brooklyn003
DeleteI agree with you that these are some of the most traumatic crimes for victims and we owe them some closure. I think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. Sexual assault cases are some of the most the law enforcement and prosecutors will have to deal with.
Delete-RHB003
It always amazes me how one person can get away with committing such horrible crimes, for that length of time. Nathan Loebe, was found guilty on 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 attempted sexual assault. Rape test kits come into play, when there is a he said she said type moment. When one person said that the sexual interaction was consensual, and the other person says it was not consensual. If it weren't for rape test kits, Nathan Loebe would never have been convicted. It amazes me that when a man is constantly lying about his life, and raping girls over and over again, you would think that someone would step forward and say something. I think it was a smart idea for police to start testing every single rape case, and not letting the investigation details get in the way. They tested enough, and started to get a build up, and a lead on Nathan Loebe. I think all police departments should begin funding programs, that involve rape test kits. Tucson Police department began doing that to ensure no U.S sanctions were violated. Rape test kits could ultimately be game changer, in the law enforcement field. It could completely shrink the numbers of the amount of unsolved sexual assault, and rape cases, and put more predators behind bars. Like Nathan Loebe a disgusting man taken off the streets do to a rape test kit, that gave investigators leads pointing towards him. What I do not agree with is going back to investigate rape cases from the 1990s. The article states that they have 400 cases that need to be investigated from 1988 to 2016. I think that if it happened that long ago all the evidence is probably gone.
ReplyDeleteI-Like-Cereal003
I feel as though he would have continued to get away with these crimes and committed more had they not changed the way they were processing these kits and continued to use the "old" method. I thing its ridiculous that a crime such as rape would ever be questioned as to whether or not the act was consensual or not. If someone says I am raped you should automatically do the kit and then work your investigation to determine if the act was consensual. This way you took the proper steps and made the effort so that if it is to you have everything you need. When you make victims feel like they are lying this is where you run into the issue of those that don't want to testify or even speak out in fear that someone will treat them as the perpetrator and not the victim. Jadist003
DeleteI do think using rape kit is useful to catch bad guys from the street, Many communities rape kit testing efforts are taking violent offenders off the streets, many whom have escaped justice for decades and improving public safety. jurisdictions across the country have began to witness the benefit of testing every rape kit. When tested, rape kit evidence can identify an unknown assailant link crimes together, and identify serial offenders. It can also confirm the presence of a known suspect, affirm the survivors account of the attack, discredit the suspect, and exonerate the innocent. Testing rape kit also saves communities millions of dollars. We also see that DNA in sexual assault cases is part of investigation which of result is completed perfectly and the right person is convicted. When law enforcement investigate cases of sexual violence DNA evidence can make or break the outcome. it is often an important tool in achieving justice for survivors of sexual assault Gusii 003
ReplyDeleteI agree that using a rape kit can be very beneficial. If a person sexually assaults someone, they should not get away with. I get heated every time someone doesn't get the justice they deserve when it comes to this. The stories I hear, sometimes the person did not get near enough jail time as they should of. These rape kits could also help prevent the wrong person getting incarcerated in jail or prison. There was a story I heard one time and this guy got accused of raping this girl but he claimed he didn't do it and he spent time in prison for a crime he didn't commit. I think he spent around eight years in prison. People that get wrongly accused and go to prison are never going to get that time back. -Soccer003
DeleteWith people such as Loebe being out there, I think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. One of the examples that the article used was that they did not test one of them because one person said that it was done with consent and the other person was saying that they did not give consent, so they were not going to test it because it would not prove that a sexual assault had occurred. While I think that this is true, I think that it is still very important to still test all of these kits, even if it does not prove that they sexually assaulted someone but if you see the same person every once in a while, you can maybe start putting the pieces together and build a case on that person and eventually you will be able to convict them. It is good to see that they were able to get a grant to test a bunch of these rape kits even though they still have a lot of the cases to investigate, they are making some really good progress, and we need to keep on this track so we can protect the victims and get these people that are committing these sexual assaults off of the streets. People like Nathan Loebe who were found guilty of twelve counts of sexual assault and more should be a motivation to get these people off of the streets. It is very important to investigate and test every single one of these rape kits. -Steel003
ReplyDeleteThe police and others within the criminal justice system had a process of handling rape cases. This process had great intentions for a positive outcome. This approach was based on if the supposed victim filled a report saying it was without consent while the defendant claimed the action was a mutual consent, that report would then get neglected at large. The authorities would only test the rape kit with both parties confessed it was without consent. This situation is rare, by this only a few kits were tested. Nathan Loebe had raped seven women within a twelve-year time frame. He resided in Arizona, within the county of Pima. He also had other criminal activity which include five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault. His victims were picked up in a few different ways, some with late night bar activities while others were through several different online dating sites. Nathan Loebe would usually spike the drink that these women were drinking. The women had reported a lost consciousness or they became incapacitated. After these women became incapable, he would then sexually assault them. His actions are devasting to his victim. It took the authorities twelve years for them to locate and charge him. This case shook the mindset of law enforcement officers. They started to think critically about the process of sexual assault reports. They had a specific operation for this line of crime that at the time seemed to be effective, however this case challenged this order of operations drastically. They realized this system of only testing rape kits that both parties agreed to that there was a lack of consent was extremely unreliable and one sided. Following this case, the authorities changed their protocol. Now all rape kits will get tested no matter if there is no consent on either party. Due to this redemption, there is severe backlog of rape kits waiting to get tested. -CoalRoller033
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article it is crazy to think how one person got away with many rapes for so long. Nathan Loebe was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking and 1 count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press. If there were not rape test kits Nathan Loebe wouldn’t of got caught and would probably still be doing those things today. Rape kits come in handy when there's a two-sided story. When one person says it was with consent and the other says it was without consent. Just like with Loebe all he had to say was that it was with consent and he got away with it. I think this is very unfair to the victim because the police don't get their side of the story and the suspect could be lying. I think it was a very bright idea when police started to test every rape case and to not just decide based on the story. This way the suspect is unable to lie about it and it's more evidence. Many of the victims said they met Nathan Loebe in a bar or through an online dating site and said he provided false names and lied about who he was. The victims also stated that they had drinks with Loebe but then later on became unconscious or incapacitated.In, 2015 the Tuscan Police Department received a $1 million grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. This funded a project to support the testing of rape kit backlogs from settlements with international banks that violated U.S. sanctions. They used the grant for testing of about 1,450 cases and out of those cases 839 DNA profiles have been entered into CODIS. There was 364 hits to people who have been convicted or arrested for certain felonies. This shows how great rape kits work and how many people can be caught just by using a rape kit. -brooklyn003
ReplyDeleteThe amount of backlogs from state-to-state is just insane. Looking at the chart on the article I can see that at least five states have over 8,000 rape kits that haven't been tested. It's hard to think about how many people have gotten away with rape because of this backlog, how many people are still running free because of it? It's good that a method for catching serial rapists is being used, and that extra steps are being taken to test these kits using what they called the forklift approach. The forklift approach is where they test all of the untested rape kits regardless of investigation details and then try to match the results to people who have already entered the system. In the article they talked about using this method, they tested 1450 kits they found 839 DNA profiles and they found the 364 of those DNA profiles have been convicted or arrested before. While this isn't the most immediate way to find a rapist at least it can work. It's even shown working in the article, a man who was indeed a serial rapist. With 12 counts of sexual assault five counts of kidnapping three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault this man seems very dangerous and because of the kits they were able to prove that he committed the crime.- waterboy003
ReplyDeleteThe use of rape kits was and is incredibly effective, it helps the victims that do report rape either catch the person who did it as long as they are in the system or prove the person they accused of doing it. Rape leaves an everlasting impression on someone and it has been a long struggle for it to be taken seriously, sometimes even now justice isn’t truly served. Reading this article it’s scary to see how someone can seem so nice and what some people would call normal. The article takes the statements from different women saying they met Loebe at the bar, because he provided false identification on an online dating site, when they met they had drinks and the woman ended up losing consciousness and then was raped. Rape doesn’t only happen to a woman, it can happen to men too. It’s scary how manipulative people can be, hiding who they are, acting like they are good when they have cruel intentions. I didn’t know that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assault in Arizona, not that many women want the past to be brought back up but if they didn’t get justice it might be nice for them to open up the wound one more time to finally close it. It might also be nice for the people who were working on the case to finally close a case as well. I know as a women I can be a little more scared in situations where I’m alone around men I don’t know, like if I go to the movies or if I go on a walk I am a little on edge that someone might scoop me. Ark003
ReplyDeleteReading the article “Serial rapist Nathan Loebe convicted in Pima County, Arizona, after testing of rape kit backlog” was eye opening. To read that this rapist had the opportunity to sexually assault women for over a 12 year period due to back logged rape kits is shocking. I don’t see how the old view of when to test a rape kit was legal. If have a case where rape is suspected, one would think testing a rape kit would be automatic and not questioned whether to not the sexual act was consensual. It is also shocking to know that due to the large amount of backlogs thousands of women and maybe some men too are left without justice being served or even in some cases finding their rapist. ‘Forklift’ approach should always be used, by testing every rape kit regardless of the details of whether or not the act was consensual. In not using this method one would thing there would be a large number of law suits with DNA evidence being entered into CODIS and Index after the fact. What if the perpetrator is now deceased. The only saving grace is that there is no statue of limitations on rape cases. Jadist003
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy that this man was able to get away from with these rapes for 12 years. It has to be awful for these women to know this man was able to get away with it because of poor performance of the police. I understand that it takes time and money but 12 years is a bit excessive. It was also crazy that with that million dollar grant that they were only have to do 4,500 back log cases. That goes to show you how expensive it is to test these kits. -ClarkKent003
DeleteAfter reading this article, I am reminded of how frustrating and terrible people can be. It is extremely sad that there are people out there who can commit horrible crimes such as rape and sexual assault. It is also very frustrating how slow the criminal justice system can be in getting around to these cases and testing the rape kits and everything. This serial rapist was able to be walking around and commit more violent acts for twelve years while his victims did not get justice during that time and have to live with traumatic experiences for the rest of their lives. The article had shown that there are thousands of untested rape kits which is unacceptable. The map of the states showing the backlog of kits in each one was astonishing. What has caused such a tremendous backlog? I am glad we are able to get to some of the cases and solve them especially when it's one person committing several acts of sexual assault. Hopefully we are able to catch up to the crazy amount of backlog in the next few years and provide justice and some sort of peace of mind to victims.
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DeleteI love the idea of sexual assault kits and think they are extremely helpful. The only thing we could advance on is making the process speed up so we can get instanesous results back immediately. These cases are also so backed up with the government because they’re so many once we get to the case it is hard to get any more evidence. The faster we make the process, the less cases we will have to solve and the more evidence we can get by being so on time. Overtime, of a sexual assault crime it is hard to gain any more evidence than what you received that day. #notaplumber003
DeleteThere are tons of rape kits that have been backlog causing many criminal to get away with their crimes. In 2015 the Tucson Police Department received a million dollar grant that help with the backlog of rape kits. With that million dollars they were only able to test about 1450 kits. Another grant will allow the police department to be able to finish off the 500 kits that still need to be tested. Of those 1450 rape kits tested 36 hit on people who have been convicted of other felonies. With such a backlog a man was able to go 12 years before he was finally caught by the police. 12 years went by before the victim of a rape got her justice. This man raped 7 women over a 12 year period before the police were able to catch him. This absolutely needs to change. It should not take this long for the police to get rape kits tested. I can see why the police would not want to test a kit because of the question if it was consent or not. It cost money and time. But I also believe they should do the test no matter what, they need to look at the big picture not just case by case. The kit they test might not be a match for they case they are working but it might match another that had happen or in the future. In the case of Loebe, this man was a serial rapist that raped many women in many different states. The police tested all of the kits and finally were able to make a case against him. It is nice that many places do not have a statute of limitations on this crime. It might take awhile but justice will come to these criminals. -ClarkKent003
ReplyDeleteI am so glad we have new movements like this happening. One of the most frustrating thing for some of these victims is, like you mentioned, the time it takes to actually prosecute and charge someone with rape. These victims already had to go through the event itself, and then on top of that they have people who don't believe them that it was actually rape in he said/she said situations. So to see this type of grant be given to help so many peoples cases is amazing to see. -AS003
DeleteThis video is a perfect example of how evolving mentalities in a law enforcement can change the outcome of people's lives. Reading the article it states that prosecutors would not do anything about a he said she said rape case. They said the rape kits would not show consent versus lack of consent. Now, due to the changing mindsets, a man in Arizona, Nathan Loebe, was finally convicted after he committed at least 12 known/ reported rapes. I am sure this does not include the ones who did not report the incident. This is all due to a $1 million grant the Tucson Police Department received in 2015. This grant let the department test more than 1,400 cold case rape kits. These kits were never given the chance to be looked into. Out of all the rape kits that were tested, about 839 individual’s DNA was added to the database. The sad part is, that of the 839, there were 364 of those that have been convicted or arrested for felonies. It is stated that within the first month of testing these kits, Loebe’s DNA showed up on more than one of the rape kits. This allowed them to show a series of connections to rapes from Loebe. The mindset that he said/she said cases are too hard to solve was shut down because of these tests. This one case in particular show that it is possible to see trends and convict people, especially when there is a trend for an individual’s DNA to be showing up on rape kits. I am grateful to have been shown this article. It really opens my eyes to the cruel world of rape and just how frustrating it is for rape victims who feel like no one believes them. -AS003
ReplyDeleteIm glad that you mentioned the video, I at first missed it and went back to watch it (thought it was a photo of a rape kit). I did not know that you can have a rape kit done without filing a report with the police. I do know that there is a demand for Sexual Assault nurse examiners. Mendoza just had a bill passed for sexual assault victims to be seen and to have and examination done within the first hour of being in the emergency room along with to always have a sexual assault nurse examiner in the the hospitals emergency department. casket003
DeleteThe articles starts out with stating that Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com, “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Due to the sexual assault kits, Loebe was found guilty of multiple crimes. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. You could tell that Loebe was very methodical in his craft. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. That is just terrible what he was doing to these women. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another, in order to put the pieces together to find the criminal. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” This caused a new way of thinking, called, the “forklift approach,” in which every rape kit is tested, regardless of the investigation details. According to the ABC news article, the Tucson PD received a $1 million dollar grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York. So far, this grant has funded the testing of 1,450 additional cases that previously there was no money for. The state has also taken to providing more funding, adding approximately 500 more kits which I think is a really good thing for the state to do. Overall, the article got me somewhat angry and just mad at what this individual was able to do to his victims in such a cowardly way as well. -CUBSFAN003
ReplyDeleteReading this article about serial rapist Nathan Loebe makes me feel good that this guy finally got caught but it’s terrible to learn that many people are still waiting to get justice for crimes committed against them. The backlog of sexual assault kits is something I hope can be addressed in a meaningful way soon so that all the people who are victims can get some sense of justice. One thing from the article that stood out to me was that re-opening these investigations can be traumatizing to the victim as they are forced to open previously closed wounds. I’m sure that’s tough for people who are victims of sexual assault, on hand you want to do whatever you can to get justice but I imagine if you’ve spent years working on moving on and you finally get to a place where you don’t think about it all the time it would be terrible to have to revisit that. It seems like it should be an easy decision to cooperate with an investigation against the person who assaulted you but it really isn’t when you factor in the potential trauma involved. I did find it interesting to read about how a changing approach to sexual assault crimes is helping. Instead of looking at these things on a case by case basis we can start looking at patterns to see a bigger picture. It can be difficult to prove whether consent was given or not if you look at each case individually but seeing that pattern and bigger picture emerge allows us to see behavior trends we might otherwise miss.
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"The idea that maybe it wasn't worth testing a sexual assault kit because it doesn't show consent versus lack of consent," What Nicol Green told Abc News". However, that I understand it's a he said she said case. It is also much more than that. whether there was or wasn't consent the kit should have been tested regardless to prove that a sexual encounter had occurred. Nathan Loebe went on for 12 years sexually assaulting seven women because police didn't have the funds to test rape kits. One assault is one to many but for seven assaults to occur and to get away with it for twelve years is horrendous. It amazes me that the department was able to test 1,450 cases due to a grant and that they have about 500 kits left to test. what is even sad is that 400 cases have to be re-investigated. Which is another hurtle that has to be overcome. 30-year-old cases are being reopened because new evidence has been "essentially found" but it is evidence they have been sitting on along due to lack funding. So essentially new lives and families will be affected due to the reopening of the case as well as the victim. Details of what happened during the night of their assault is even more cloudy than what it was 30 years ago. There should always be funding for testing of rape kits. If the government can keep taxing us for the same things why not develop a tax for something that truly matters and can potentially save a life and a family for that matter. Twelve years is to long to wait for justice and to see your perpetrator locked up. I hope that these victims will finally get justice in the end. casket003
ReplyDeleteYeah it's frustrating to hear that there is such a huge backlog of sexual assault kits. Especially if you consider that each one of those potentially represents someone who is trying to get justice for a crime committed against them. I'd also like to see more resources dedicated to getting through the backlog. The fact that so many people are waiting years to hear back from these is just not acceptable.
DeleteAvatar003
This article talks about rape kits and how the government is trying to use them more. The article focuses on the case of Nathan Loebe who was arrested in Kentucky about a sexual assault. The rape kit backlog was the reason that he is being prosecuted because they found enough evidence in the kit to form a case. I don’t know why there’s any debate over rape kits because they seem to be very helpful. There have been a lot of cases recently in the media where girls are getting raped at parties and can’t get justice because they didn’t take a rape kit test and they can’t find enough evidence. Or, they come out in a few years and say that they were raped years ago and they can’t find evidence to prosecute the rapist. R Kelly is a big name in the media now for that reason, and they can’t find evidence. I think that rape kits should be a mandatory thing that you have to do if you are raped. That way they can get the best evidence to fight for your case. They also talk about statue of limitations and how there isn’t one for sexual assault in Arizona. This means that no matter when the crime is brought to the attention of the police, it can still be investigated. I think that there should be a statue of limitations on sexual assault cases because it would give the victim another reason to come forward as soon or soon after the rape happened. So many rapists don’t pay the consequences because the victims don’t tell anyone until years after it happened and by then it’s just too difficult to get enough evidence to form a case. Rape kits can be the key to solving a lot of these rape mysteries. Celtics003
ReplyDeleteNathan Loebe was convicted of raping seven women over the course of twelve years Not only was nathan charged with seven counts of sexual assault ,but for five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking, and one attempted rape. All of which occurred between 2003 to 2015. According to the article, the victims would meet the man at the bar, or via an online dating website. He would give them fake names, and lie about who he was. Majority of the victims reported that they had drinks with the man and either lost consciousness or became incapacitated. Nathan Lobe had already been a suspect in sexual assault cases, but claimed that the sexual activity was consensual. How things used to work was that if there was a situation where the victim said it wasn’t consensual, but the suspect said it was consensual, and that there was no way to tell either way, that a sexual assault kit wasn’t worth it because it doesn't show if there was consent or no consent. Law enforcement’s started every rape kit no matter the investigation details, also known as the “forklift approach”. This was how they were abe to build a case against Loebe. In 2015, the Tucson County Police Department received a grant from the Manhattan district attorney’s office. This grant covered the testing for approximately 1,450 rape kits. How rape kits work are the collect evidence from the victims body and clothing, including possible DNA evidence. When the evidence is found, it is entered into CODIS, to see if it matches a person that has already committed an offense to identify the assaulter. Loebe’s DNA was already in the system from a prior charge, and it was found from more than one kit within a month. After five years of work doing the backlog rape kits, Nathan Loebe is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on April 22nd. -pizza003
ReplyDeleteI think it is extremely important to be testing all of these rape kits no matter what happened or what ones they think are more important than the other. The article said that there were a lot of rape kits not being tested because the reason may not have been important enough or it would not be good enough evidence to convict someone of sexually assaulting another person. Sexual assault cases are some of the most the law enforcement and prosecutors will have to deal with. Many times going back and revisiting cases with interviewing victims can be an extremely dramatic experience for the victims who are just trying to put that situation behind them. The article explains how important these rape kids are because as we see from reading the article A serial rapist from Arizona who had been raping women for over 12 years was current because of many rape and sexual assault cases being reopened. The victims either met him in a bar or from an online dating site. Every time he used a different name so others weren’t able to clearly identify him. The victims claimed they would have a couple of drinks and then they would end up losing consciousness and that is when he would attack them and sexual assault them. Because of the several reports, authorities finally decided to start testing the sexual assault kits and comparing them to one another. Another astonishing dang I noticed when reading through this article was in the image of the map and it was color coordinated to show the amount of backlog we have across America for rape kits. The statistics should be extremely startling to the American people and it does not instill any confidence in do you victims when they go long periods of time without their kits even being looked at.
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Nathan Loebe, was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year period of time. According to abcnews.com. “he was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault, five counts of kidnapping, three counts of stalking and one count of attempted sexual assault, according to the Associated Press, for cases that occurred between 2003 and 2015.” Thanks to the sexual assault kit because without them he wouldn’t have gotten found. According to abcnews.com, “Rape kits collect evidence from a victim's body and clothing after an assault, including potential DNA evidence. When DNA evidence is found, it is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to see if there is a match to a person with a past offense and to identify serial offenders.” the assault kit has been very helpful and a BIG reason for many solved cases in the criminal justice field. This case helped rape kits gain trust in law enforcement, judges and over government officials. Loebe DNA had been in the system from prior convictions and when they tested it with other samples he was a match. Rape kits are one of the amazing things in law enforcement because it helps tell who did the crime.When DNA was found it is entered into CODIS (C)ombined (D)NA (I)ndex (S)ystem) to see if there’s a match to someone or someone with past convictions and identity the person. It is very important to investigate and test every single one of these rape kits.-KenzieLand003
ReplyDeleteNathan Loebe was charged and found guilty of sexually assaulting a total of twelve people. He got away with it for a long time because of the fact that no one was able to tell if the person actually consented or did not consent to sex. Being sexually assaulted is something that should never occur in a person’s life. It is a terrible thing for a person to do to another individual. Being sexually assaulted changes a person’s life forever and they will always be hurt from that traumatic experience that they went through. When it comes to sexual assault, Sexual Assault Evidence Kits are able to play a large role in helping figure out if an individual was actual raped or not. Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, AKA also known as Rape Kits are used whenever someone reports to the police that they have been raped. Rape kits have their downfalls such as the fact that they are not able to tell whether or not the individual actually consented to sex or not. What the these rape kits do test for is DNA. The way these tests are used to see whether a person actually consented or not is through CODIS. CODIS is Combined DNA Index System. This system is able to match individuals if they have been accused of rape in the past and sees if it matches up with anyone at all. Thanks to rape kits Nathan Loebe was charged and incarcerated for the crimes that he committed towards these individuals. Nathan Loebe in my opinion is a disgrace of a human being. He is a monster for doing these crimes. I am very thankful for rape kits because I think being sexually assaulted should happen to no one. It is disgusting and inhumane to do this to someone. -Anchorman003
ReplyDeleteIt does need to be brought up that these test are not one hundred percent perfect and like you said the rape kit test doesn't test if the person consented to sex or not. CODIS is a great program but in the end this falls under a judgment call and the consistency or inconsistency of the story being told. The people that commit these crimes (the act of rape and falsely accusing someone of rape) have no idea the lifetime affects it will have on the person. Ark003
DeleteNathan Loebe was convicted of raping seven women over a twelve year time period. He was convicted after the police got a grant so they could test rape kits. Law enforcement were able to create a case against Loebe because they started to test every rape kit. The police department in Tucson got a one million dollar grant in 2015. The grant came from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that is located in New York. This was able to fund the project to support testings of the rape kit backlogs. Rape kits are meant to gather evidence from clothing or the victim's body. This can also include DNA evidence.Once they find some DNA evidence, they put it into the Combined DNA Index System or the CODIS. They do this so that they can try to find a match to a specific person that has a past offense and they also want to try and identify serial offenders. 1,450 kits were funded by that grant. 839 DNA profiles have been put into the CODIS and they were able to find 364 people that have been convicted or arrested for specific felonies. It said that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assault in Arizona. There is a statute of limitations in Illinois but there is no statute of limitations for arson. I have always wondered this is the way it is. Some people that get sexual assaulted might not know who did it to them. Testing these rape kits and finding matches might help bring these people closure. People that commit sexual assault and get away with it, should not get away with it. They should not be walking on the streets. If people don’t try and catch these people, this could potentially happen to someone else. Some people that have been sexually assaulted have PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc. No one deserves to go through that. -Soccer003
ReplyDeleteSeven women within a 12-year period is a lot of gaps from every action that was taken in the case. It says in one of the quotes “The recognition that this is a way to identify serial rapist’s kind of took hold”. The rape kit backlog state by state is really eye opening with some states with 8,000+, just goes to show how behind the states are. One of the main reason that convicted Nathan Loebe was because of the rape kits that were put into effect. The grant funded 1450 kits, Tucson police said, “We have approximately 400 cases that need to be re-investigated that go back from 1988 to 2016.” With a conviction is a conviction even if it was 10 to 20 years ago. Loebe was wanted in Colorado, Massachusetts and Ohio. Loebe was a serial rapist some would say because of the other warrants in other states and the 9 women that testified. The grant has and is making cases and DNA easier to come by. The states are so far behind in the calls and cases we may never catch up but to have a game plan now with this grant starting, should open the door for many more researchers and law enforcement to come. Rapists and the public safety of stalking is real and is huge deal for women and children’s safety hopefully these cases and many starts as a eye opener, to start taking a lead or next in other cases. DirtTrack003
ReplyDeleteWith this man, The victims claimed that they would go have drinks with him and then lose consciousness and that is when he would sexually assault the women. Nathan Loebe, was found guilty on 12 counts of sexual assault, 5 counts of kidnapping, 3 counts of stalking, and 1 attempted sexual assault. The article states that they have 400 cases that need to be investigated from 1988 to 2016. This is just sad. It took twelve years for this man to properly be identified. The fact that these rape tests have almost been pushed to the side as a we will get to it when we can type ordeal, is just disheartening. These people went through such traumatic events and they are waiting years upon years to get answers and have justice be served, even if the evidence is still viable by then or the person is still alive or all the other possibilities present. Rape tests are so important because even if there are two sides to the story, these can be used to help prove fact. Rape should not be taken lightly or seen as unimportant because these people went through something horrific to be disregarded. They tested 1450 kits they found 839 DNA profiles and they found the 364 of those DNA profiles have been convicted or arrested before. This is still just as horrifying. How slow this process is, is disheartening. To know that tomorrow, If I was sexually assaulted, I could wait for ten years to suddenly get a phone call for justice to be served. -holywaffles003
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