Detroit Businesswomen Team Up to Get Rape Kits Tested
Enough SAID (Sexual Assault in Detroit), a public-private initiative, was created as a way to address a criminal justice crisis related to untested rape kits in the city of Detroit. Enough SAID sought and received millions of dollars in local, state and federal grant money for kit-testing and investigators.
In 2009, a Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney noticed thousands of rape kits stacked on the shelves of a Detroit Police Department storage facility. The kits are used to collect and store DNA evidence obtained from sexual assault survivors. These particular kits had been in storage for up to 30 years, and their contents had never been processed or properly investigated.
Michelle Busuito, assistant general counsel at SMART and a part-time faculty member at Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business, is involved with Enough SAID.
“Others see adjudicating the rape cases from the untested kits as a necessary step in the city’s business development. It’s an interesting time for Detroit,” Busuito said. “The world is watching us. But you can’t have economic development if you can’t feel safe walking to your car after work.”
