Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need for State legislatures to pass comprehensive sexual assault kit reforms by 2021.
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that state legislatures should pass comprehensive sexual assault kit reform legislation that includes certain requirements, such as for the auditing and testing of backlogged sexual assault kits.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 81 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 81

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need 
for State legislatures to pass comprehensive sexual assault kit reforms 
                                by 2021.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 28, 2019

Mr. Joyce of Ohio (for himself, Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, Mr. Katko, 
   Ms. Speier, Mr. Turner, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
     Balderson, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need 
for State legislatures to pass comprehensive sexual assault kit reforms 
                                by 2021.

Whereas survivors of sexual assault may undergo an hours-long sexual assault 
        forensic exam to preserve DNA evidence;
Whereas many sexual assault kits across the country remain untested;
Whereas untested sexual assault kits represent individuals who have been denied 
        the opportunity to seek justice and begin healing;
Whereas testing sexual assault kits may help law enforcement officials identify 
        repeat offenders and serial rapists;
Whereas the testing of 11,341 sexual assault kits in Detroit has resulted in 
        2,616 DNA matches and the identification of more than 800 potential 
        serial rapists, and the DNA samples from the kits tested in Detroit are 
        linked to other violent crimes committed in 40 States and the District 
        of Columbia;
Whereas ending the sexual assault kit backlog requires the commitment of 
        Federal, State, and local governments and their partners; and
Whereas in 2016, the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education 
        at Case Western Reserve University, in partnership with the Cuyahoga 
        County Prosecutor Office, analyzed the cost of testing backlogged sexual 
        assault kits in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and found that each kit tested 
        produces an estimated net savings to the community of $8,893 and testing 
        4,347 kits produces an estimated net savings of $38,700,000: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
State legislatures should pass sexual assault kit reform legislation 
that requires--
            (1) the State to establish collaborations with State and 
        local sexual assault advocates, sexual assault nurse examiners, 
        law enforcement officers, and others to ensure that--
                    (A) a sexual assault advocate is made available to 
                sexual assault survivors upon a report to law 
                enforcement, during a sexual assault forensic exam, and 
                for ongoing support and services;
                    (B) sexual assault survivors are notified of their 
                rights and kit results in a trauma-informed manner, in 
                collaboration with sexual assault advocates; and
                    (C) policies and procedures pertaining to sexual 
                assault kit examinations, testing, and notification are 
                victim-centered and developed collaboratively across 
                victim advocacy, medical, law enforcement, and other 
                sexual assault response team partners;
            (2) the State to conduct an annual statewide audit to 
        inventory all untested sexual assault kits with the goal of 
        understanding the scope of the problem and to monitor progress 
        in eliminating the backlog of previously unsubmitted and 
        untested kits;
            (3) law enforcement agencies to submit all previously 
        untested sexual assault kits to a laboratory and mandates that 
        the laboratory test these kits for DNA within a specific 
        timeframe and upload the results into appropriate State and 
        Federal databases;
            (4) law enforcement agencies to promptly submit all newly 
        collected kits that have been released for testing to the 
        laboratory and mandates that the laboratory test these kits for 
        DNA within a specific timeframe and upload the results into 
        appropriate State and Federal databases;
            (5) the State to develop a sexual assault kit tracking 
        system that includes a mechanism for survivors to check the 
        status of their kits through the process, from collection to 
        analysis, and ensure that hospitals, law enforcement, and 
        laboratories are using the same system to track sexual assault 
        kits;
            (6) the State to have the appropriate mechanisms to notify 
        survivors about their right to know the status and location of 
        their sexual assault kits and their case; and
            (7) the State to contribute appropriate and sustainable 
        funding to address issues related to the unsubmitted and 
        untested sexual assault kit backlog, including trauma-informed 
        support services for survivors.
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