Immediate Help
What Will Happen at the Emergency Room?
Evidence Collection (The Rape Kit)
Evidence collection, also called the rape kit, can only be done with your consent. Any evidence found in your hospital examination can strengthen your case should you later decide to go to court. Some physical evidence can only be collected within 72 hours of the attack. Evidence may be collected and held at the hospital even if you do not plan to report the attack to the police. This way, if you decide to report at a later date, the evidence will still be available.Hospitals in Illinois are required to notify the police that treatment has been given the a sexual assault victim, but they will not reveal any information about your (your name, the specific treatments administered, etc.) without your consent.
If you choose to allow evidence collection, the following will be done: samples will be taken from the genitals, the rectum, and the mouth; combings of the head and pubic hair and collecting of material from beneath your fingernails. These samples can be used to detect the assailant's sperm, hair, and skin cells, all of which can help to identify the attacker. The clothes you were wearing may also be sent to the crime lab and kept as evidence until your case is closed. The hospital will provide you with other clothes to wear home. Photographs may be taken of bruises, cuts, and other injuries that occurred during the assault; these may be kept as evidence until your case is closed.
