Weld Launches Rape Prevention Program

Gov. William F. Weld '66 announced yesterday the creation of a new program to provide rape victims in Massachusetts with more compassionate medical treatment and to give district attorneys a better chance of prosecuting rapists.

The initiative, titled the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program (SANE), will provide rape victims with a more dignified and private environment during the post-assault medical and forensic examinations.

"We should make it easier for victims to come forward rather than create more obstacles that dissuade them from pursuing justice," Weld said in a statement. "The SANE program will greatly assist rape victims to overcome this horrible crime and help police put rapists in prison, where they belong."

Weld made the announcement at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center in Cambridge.

The program will be instituted this summer in designated state hospitals by the Massachusetts Department of public Health and will provide rape victims with specially trained registered nurses during their post-assault exams.

After the exams, victims will be provided with a private room to shower and they will also be given a clean change of clothing.

Previously, many rape victims had to wait for hours in a crowded waiting room before a physician would conduct a thorough forensic examination.

Also, some rape victims in Massachusetts now have to wear makeshift clothes home because their clothes are retained for evidence.

Under the SANE program, Massachusetts will pay for forensic medical procedures, sparing victims from the difficulty of explaining the circumstances for the examination on insurance forms.

"It's difficult enough for victims to even admit that they have been raped, let alone have to wait for hours in an emergency room before being rushed through the assembly line for an exam," Weld said. "The SANE program will give victims who are sexually violated the supportive environment they need to deal with the trauma of rape."

The Massachusetts state SANE program is being modeled after a similar SANE program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Tulsa program won the 1994 Innovations in State and Local Government Award from the Ford Foundation and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The SANE program in Tulsa was also credited with helping the District Attorney's office increase its number of successful rape prosecutions.

The Massachusetts SANE program will be funded through grants from the state's Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Committee on Criminal Justice.

In order to further defray the cost, Weld filed legislation which would impose a $200 fee on defendants convicted of sexual assault offenses.

Weld and Lt. Gov. A. Paul Cellucci yesterday also announced plans to refile other measures to enhance the rights of rape victims.

Among these are: making convicted sexual offenders undergo mandatory testing for sexually transmitted diseases, protecting the confidentiality of victims' counseling records and making a second or subsequent violation of a restraining order a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

"Rape victims ought to be viewed with compassion, not suspicion; rapists ought to be viewed with rage, not tolerance," Cellucci said.