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Tag: SVU

  • Mariska Hargitay of SVU Champions Money for Clearing Rape Kit Backlog

    Mariska Hargitay, daughter of famed Hollywood starlet Jayne Mansfield, has seen a considerable amount of success herself. She stars on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and it is her role there as Olivia Benson, working in a unit that investigates sexually related crimes, that informed her latest effort.

    When someone is sexually assaulted, there is a process for collecting evidence called a sexual assault evidence kit. These are commonly called “rape kits.” Collecting the evidence quickly and effectively is incredibly important because the victim is unable to shower until that evidence is collected. The victim’s body is literally a crime scene.

    But collecting the evidence is actually not the toughest part for law enforcement. It costs from $500 to $1000 to process the DNA evidence collected by the kits. If there is a case where police have a good suspect, they will prioritize those cases first for processing.

    Other kits may be shelved until such a time as the municipality can afford to get the testing processed, or a suspect becomes apparent. The problem with this is that it causes possible avenues of investigation to remain hidden.

    What if there are a dozen “rape kits” on the shelf, waiting to be processed, that reveal the same assailant? What if a pattern could be established, a profile deduced, and rapes prevented?

    But there are tens of thousands of kits sitting unprocessed. 11,000 untested rape kits were discovered in Detroit alone, due to that city’s financial straits

    “Each day as we struggled for funds, the rape kits got older and older and older, and victims were denied justice yet another day, another month, another year,” Kim Worthy, the prosecutor for Wayne County, which includes Detroit said. “And the rapists kept on raping and committing other crimes…these rapists did not stay in Detroit.”

    With that in mind, Mariska Hargitay runs the Joyful Heart Foundation to help sex assault survivors. Their mission is “to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.”

    Hargitay has been crusading for funding that can help get these unprocessed rape kits off the shelves and into labs.

    Now it looks like those efforts will start paying off. New York will be getting $440 million dollars from a settlement with a French bank that used New York banks to launder money for illegal clients. Some of that money will now go to help clear the backlog of unprocessed rape kits around the country.

    Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced:

    “Today our office is announcing a $35 million commitment to help to eliminate the backlog of untested rape kits nationwide. The examination of those kits will provide DNA samples that I believe will solve previously unsolved sexual assaults throughout the country, and will bring some measure of closure to victims and survivors who have waited years for their cases to be resolved,” Mr. Vance said today at a press conference in his Manhattan office.

    Mariska Hargitay praised Vance’s efforts to help law enforcement all over the nation, not just in New York, with that money.

    “This is, hands down, the biggest investment that anyone has made to reduce the backlog of untested rape kits in the United States,” Hargitay said.

    And that money can turn serious results. In Detroit alone, getting their backlog of rape kits tested has resulted in 188 serial rapists being identified. Prosecutions are coming, and victims are getting closure.

  • Mariska Hargitay Helps Resolve Rape Kit Backlogs

    On November 12, actress Mariska Hargitay spoke at a press conference held by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. Vance announced that he will be offering up to $35 million for a nationwide campaign to end rape kit backlogs. Untested rape kits have become a problem recently especially for municipalities that have been undergoing financial trouble. According to reports, Memphis has a backlog of 11,000 untested rape kits while Las Vegas estimates their backlog to be at around 4000.

    Hargitay attended the press conference on behalf of the Joyful Heart Foundation where she serves as president. The group is an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault and they are leading the charge against rape kit backlogs. “I remember first hearing about the backlog and I remember I was so deeply shocked and offended and outraged and dismayed,” Hargitay said during the press conference. She added, “The rape kit backlog sends two terrible messages. To victims, it says: ‘you don’t matter. What happened to you doesn’t matter.”

    The money which will be used in the initiative will be doled out as grants, and various municipalities will be able to apply at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for funding in order to test the rape kits. Each rape kit test is estimated to cost around $500 to $1000. The $35 million which will be devoted in the initiative was acquired through asset forfeiture. French bank BNP Paribas was required to pay the government when they admitted to violating sanctions by moving money from Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban clients through New York.

    Mariska Hargitay is known for her role in the police procedural Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit, a show that follows a group of fictional cops who investigate rape and other sex crimes. She plays the role of Det. Olivia Benson.

  • Mariska Hargitay Talks SVU Character Olivia Benson

    Mariska Hargitay has spent the past 16 years of her life playing the character Detective Olivia Benson on the hugely popular show Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

    We have watched her character grow throughout the years, and in anticipation of the new season appearing on Wednesday, Hargitay sat down with James Lipton for Inside the Actors Studio to talk about everything from the development of Benson to her former partner Christopher Meloni.

    To prepare for her role, Benson revealed that she shadowed cops, and learned to shoot a gun like a professional. She had to get herself into the mindset of a detective, and that meant doing whatever she had to do, even viewing an autopsy.

    For 12 seasons we saw Hargitay and Meloni develop a relationship that the fans came to love. However, Meloni decided to end his career as Detective Stabler just before season 13. Hargitay said she loved the time she got to spend acting with Meloni and praised him for being such a good actor.

    “I’m so grateful for my time with him,” she said. “I think Chris is incapable of lying. He is a truth-teller; he’s committed to the truth at all costs. I loved his passion and commitment…He made me better and I love him. I loved acting with him and I love him as a person.”

    Season 16 of Law and Order: SVU airs on Wednesday, September 24, and Hargitay says she is excited to find out what is in store for her character. “I love her more now than ever…I love her because I am challenged by her,” Hargitay said. “I never know what’s going to happen. She surprises me. [Warren Leight, showrunner] surprises me. This character has evolved, which is the most exciting part of it. I feel in many ways she’s a new character because she’s gone through so much that has truly transformed her.”

  • Mariska Hargitay: SVU Is A Different Show Now

    Last night, the final episode of the “Save Benson” saga aired on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. If you will recall, during the season 15 premiere, Olivia Benson [Mariska Hargitay] was kidnapped and tortured for days by William Lewis [Pablo Schreiber]. During the January 8 episode, Olivia must face William in the court of law.

    Hargitay recently sat down with NBC’s Today and talked about why it was important for Olivia to face her attacker.

    “[A] lot of time people sort of put Benson up on a pedestal, right? Because they think she’s so strong, ‘I wish I could be like that.’ A lot of this is sort of Joyful Heart-induced and I always say, ‘She’s not so strong.’ We can’t define ourselves by an event. That’s something that happened to you,” Hargitay said. “I think it was important for her to face him again because she can, and victims, I feel, need to sometimes be reminded of their own inner strength. That’s what I wanted to do.”

    “Yes, it’s a struggle,” she continued. “I couldn’t take any of the advice I’ve been giving people all these years because it’s different once you’re in it and it just shows how hard it is and how courageous she is. But that’s what I love about her, it’s not that it’s not hard, it’s that we feel the fear and we do it anyway and we fight through. And she is a fighter, even at all odds. He was in her head; she didn’t know that she could do it. Plus, she’s battling a moral issue, which is she’s under oath, that’s her badge. It’s her honor. For me, I found the story so compelling, I thought it was even better than the season premiere.”

    Hargitay has been playing detective Olivia Benson for 15 seasons now, and she says it has been an incredible journey. “I think it’s been a journey. I think the writing changes now that we have new showrunners,” she explained. “It feels to me like a different show now, which I think is a great thing. After 15 years, the show feels so unbelievably fresh, and that’s a gift.”

    Law & Order: SVU airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

    Image via Twitter

  • Mariska Hargitay Talks New SVU Changes

    The television series Law and Order: SVU has undergone some big changes over the last few months. Not only have several popular characters left the show, but storylines have started to change as well.

    The show is about to return from its midseason break where it left many viewers on the edge of their seats after Mariska Hargitay’s character, Detective Olivia Benson was kidnapped and tormented. Mariska recently talked to TODAY’s Matt Lauer about the show and her character.

    “I think it’s been a journey,” she said on Wednesday of the drama. I think the writing changes now that we have new show runners. It feels to me like a different show now, which I think is a great thing. After 15 years the show feels so unbelievably fresh, and that’s a gift.”

    Law and Order: SVU fans may have mixed feelings about the changes, but if Mariska is right, the changes will soon grow on them.

    So what can we expect when the show resumes?

    According to Mariska, the detectives will find Benson’s attacker, but it won’t be easy for Benson to find closure or move past the attack. Several of the shows will focus on Benson struggling to deal with the incident while working cases.

    The winter premiere of “Law & Order: SVU” airs Wednesday at 9 p.m. on NBC. Will you be tuning in to see the new changes to the show and how Detective Benson deals with her recent attack?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Mariska Hargitay Visits NDVH with Joe Biden

    Mariska Hartigay has played detective Olivia Benson on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” for the past 14 years. However, her services extend far beyond the show. Hargitay is involved in helping fight sexual violence off-screen as well. Today, she joined the Vice President, Joe Biden, in his visit to the National Domestic Violence Hotline in Austin, Texas.

    “I am deeply honored to join Vice President Biden in shining a light on the tremendous work being done by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, a longtime partner of the Joyful Heart Foundation,” said Hargitay.

    “The Hotline stands as an indispensable resource to help break the isolation that so many victims of domestic violence feel,” she continued. “I am eager not only to see new innovations and resources made possible through Verizon’s ongoing support, but also to celebrate the commitment and care the Hotline’s advocates bring to their work every day. And I will of course never stop celebrating Vice President Biden’s vision and leadership that allowed the Hotline to be created.”

    Hargitay is also the president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which helps victims of sexual assault in New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu.

    Image via Twitter