The Government Is Finally Doing Something to End the Rape-Kit Backlog

[MerryBlooms]

Across the country, an estimated 400,000 rape kits—the DNA swabs, hair, photographs, and detailed information gathered from victims of sexual assault and used as evidence for the prosecution to convict rapists—have never been tested. Testing kits can be expensive, and in many jurisdictions, a lack of funds has resulted in kits being consigned to dusty shelves, stored in abandoned police warehouses, or stowed away in forensic labs—sometimes for years. As a result, survivors may never see their rapists prosecuted, and repeat offenders continue to commit crimes.

But now a new, $41 million Department of Justice program could finally help localities end this backlog. The money from Congress "goes a long way towards solving the problem," says Linda Fairstein, a former sex crimes prosecutor who serves on the board of the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit established by Law and Order:SVU actress Mariska Harigtay that does research and advocacy work on the rape-kit backlog.

Last week, the Department of Justice began accepting applications from states, counties, and municipalities that want to use the federal dollars to tackle their rape kit backlogs. Officials in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Detroit, Memphis, Cleveland, and Houston tell Mother Jones that they're planning on applying for some of the funds. "The grant shows an investment on all levels, national to local," says Doug McGowen, a coordinator in the sexual assault response unit in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cities and communities that have received these sorts of grants in the past have had great success in tackling the problem, according to people who have been working on ending rape kit backlogs for years—prosecutors, police officers, and advocates. "If we had not received a grant, we would be struggling," says Mary Lentschke, the assistant chief of the Houston police department. In 2011, Houston received a grant from the National Institute of Justice, a research branch of the Department of Justice that has distributed millions of dollars to cities over the past 12 years to eliminate backlogs. As of February, Houston had cleared its entire backlog of rape kits.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/rape-kit-backlog-federal-funding

[Cirque du So-What]

1. If I find out that politicos are playing poker with that money

instead of putting it to use, I'm a-gonna be PISSED! I hope there is adequate oversight of this program.

[MerryBlooms]

2. +100% rec!

[hopemountain]

3. hope the dispersal and use of funds is monitored

to ensure their use for the allotted purpose and not to line the pockets of the corrupt who don't have any interest in pursuing rapes. yes. i am jaded on this issue from years of working rape crisis calls on a hotline and working with women.

[MerryBlooms]

4. I understand and I have the same concerns.