Rape prevention and assistance for rape victims

Many cities do not currently have facilities or budgets to ensure the rapid processing of rape kits. Because rape is such a violent crime, because rapists almost always rape again, and because the violence in a rapist usually escalates, putting off processing of rape kits often leads to more and worse crime.

Our goals are:
» To raise awareness of women’s safety issues
» To inform on rape prevention
» To donate to existing women’s shelters and facilitate the creation of new ones
» To work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the funds needed are available to crime labs and Police departments to process rape » kits and fully investigate rape cases, leading to convictions.
» To provide extended counseling for women who are victims of violent crimes

We aim to run a public awareness campaign on these issues in order to raise funds to make this country a safer place for women. We intend to lobby state and federal law makers to increase the statute of limitations on rape cases and for harder penalties for rapists.
The unfortunate reality is that women are targeted victims of violence and rape on a daily basis; and with overly stretched police departments many of these offenders go free. Many times funds to properly process rape kits and investigate these crimes are just not available. This should not be acceptable to anyone. The fact that we live in such a wealthy and supposedly civilized society where we can spend millions of dollars on Michael Jackson’s funeral and a party for the Lakers but we cannot find four million dollars to process a backlog of rape kits of 15 years should be beyond unthinkable. It is not right that we cannot make such a small effort to protect our mothers, wives, daughters and girlfriends. Hence, it is the Struckmann Foundation’s intent to confront the public and raise those funds needed to help keep women safe from sexual predators.
Funds will go directly to crime labs or police departments for the processing of rape kits. In addition we wish to give funds and assistance to rape awareness and prevention centers and, naturally, to help victims of these often debilitating crimes.
A note about how little it would take. If everyone in Los Angeles were to send us only one dollar today we would have all the funds needed to process all backlogged and current rape kits.

STORIES:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/24/crimesider/entry5109097.shtml
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-oe-rutten22-2008oct22,0,4064569.column
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_10841892
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-tofte30-2008jun30,0,7035497.story
http://womensmediacenter.com/ex/041609.html
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/31/las-untested-rape-kits-represent-lost-justice

Tino Struckmann’s book “Stalked, what you can do about it” is in book stores now and proceeds go directly to the foundation. www.stalkingbook.com