Subscribe now

Society

The story of how rape became a forensic crime is grim but gripping

Definitively convicting rapists is only possible thanks to one woman's efforts to create a forensic chain of evidence. A new book explores the rape kit and how we still fail survivors

By Vijaysree Venkatraman

12 February 2025

2021.0107.01; Evidence collection kit, sexual assault.

Rape kits are used to collect evidence of sexual assault for testing

Jaclyn Nash/National Museum of American History

The Secret History of the Rape Kit
Pagan Kennedy (Vintage Books)

While writing Inventology, a book on inventions that create social change and the people behind them, Pagan Kennedy became fascinated by what she describes as “a piece of technology designed to hold men accountable for brutalizing women”: the rape kit.

But who invented it? Newspaper reports credited Chicago police sergeant Louis R. Vitullo at the city’s crime lab, but a few accounts mentioned a woman he collaborated with. Kennedy investigated, and…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop