Making a Rapist

[first lines]

Joe Biden: My dad used to have an expression. He said "The greatest sin any person can commit is the abuse of power." And the greatest abuse of power was rape. It takes a woman a long time to heal. And when the victim isn't believed, when she goes through the invasive process of having a rape kit put together, and then it's stuck on a shelf somewhere, and then the rape kit is never, ever tested, we fail. We fail her. We fail so many women. I'm proud to say today we did not fail. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of law enforcement, the whole legal system, the victim's advocacy groups, and particularly my friend here, Lieutenant Olivia Benson of SVU, congratulations, Lieutenant.

Olivia Benson: Thank you.

[as the room applauds]

Olivia Benson: Thank you. Mr. Vice President, we are so honored to stand here today with you to announce that in beginning to clear the national rape kit backlog, we have taken rapists off the streets. We have prevented future crimes. We have given victims closure. And we have also righted a terrible wrong. Sixteen years ago, Sean Roberts was convicted of a rape here in New York City that he did not commit. By processing an untested rape kit in Detroit, we were able to identify the real rapist and set Sean free.