With more than 225,000 untested rape kits found shelved, untested in police stations, survivors find themselves waiting for justice decades after an attack that they spend lifetimes trying not to think about.
HBO’s new documentary, I Am Evidence, brings these issues to the surface with the stories of four sexual assault survivors and the flimsy system built to respond to them...
The systemic apathy towards testing these kits, paired with surveillance footage of other attacks and one particularly frustrating scene of a woman being questioned in a courtroom about what she was wearing when she was attacked, underlines that this crisis developed because of how society sees women...
Michelle Brettin, the retired Ohio police officer who investigated Amberley’s case, said if every rape kit in the country were tested, she expected the DNA from Amberley’s rapist would turn up in other cases. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a body attached to it,” Brettin said.
Despite the overwhelming nature of the problem, which sees someone in the US sexually assaulted every 98 seconds, the women interviewed cut an inspiring image of resilience and bravery.
“The film is really dedicated to the people most affected by the issue, which is the survivors,” said Adlesic. “We’re here to help change this but we really wanted their voice to be the voice of the film, and it is.”