Reunion Online

Mariska Hargitay is opening up about how her role on Law & Order: SVU has made her an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse.

The backlog of untested rape kits goes back years, and it's hindering the justice process.

CLEVELAND, Ohio –The Ohio Supreme Court today unanimously reversed the decision of a Cleveland appeals court in a rape kit case being watched across the country.

‘Law & Order: SVU’s’ Mariska Hargitay addresses the United State of Women Summit at the White House.

The phrase “rule of thumb” comes from the 1300s, when courts ruled that men could no longer beat their wives with a rod of a larger circumference than their thumb.

It was a powerful metaphor from US vice president Joe Biden to illustrate the gender inequality that continues today.

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When actress Mariska Hargitay started playing a sexual-assault detective on TV in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in 1999, she began to get mail full of stories of personal abuse.

“She trained for the role at a rape-crisis shelter,” explains Kata Issari, 54, executive director of the Hawaii region of Joyful Heart Foundation, “and she was shocked at the statistics of sexual abuse and wondered why everyone wasn’t talking about these issues.”

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After Natasha Alexenko was raped and robbed at gunpoint in New York City in 1993, her first instinct was to try to wash the experience off her.

"It was an ordeal that changed my life forever," she says. "And your first instinct after you've been assaulted – at least mine – was to take a hot shower."  

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The kits are being tested because they never were submitted or need to be checked again with new methods.

In Hawaii, one in seven women is sexually assaulted, according to advocates for victims.

WASHINGTON — Advocates for victims of sexual assault on Tuesday praised the Senate’s unanimous approval of a bill that would establish a set of rights for victims, including the right to be informed of the results of forensic tests and to have evidence preserved.

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