Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need for State legislatures to pass comprehensive sexual assault kit reforms.
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 evidence kits.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1492 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1492

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 22, 2022

Mr. Joyce of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Katko, Ms. Kuster, and Ms. Speier) 
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.

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, the identification of more than 841 suspected serial 
        rapists, and 239 convictions, 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 2021, the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and 
        Education at Case Western Reserve University and the Criminology 
        Research Center at Cleveland State University, in partnership with the 
        Sexual Assault Kit Task Force at Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's 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 $5,127, producing a total cost savings of 
        $26,480,000: 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 evidence 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 ensure that victims have the legal 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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