Essential

What exactly is a rape kit? What goes into it? Who created it? It’s a question most of us have never thought to ask. The rape kit revolutionized forensic science and gave sexual assault survivors a powerful tool in the pursuit of justice.

Pagan Kennedy had questions and went on a search for answers. While digging around, she learned of Marty Goddard and her quest in the 1970s to help create a system for collecting evidence.

Pagan is the author of The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story. She is also a journalist who has written over twelve books and countless articles. Her journalism has appeared in dozens of publications including The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly; she has worked as a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, and The Village Voice. Her awards include a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, an NEA Fellowship, a Smithsonian Fellowship, and two Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowships.