Date: 2012-05-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I really do thank the chairman and ranking member of this committee. This is a difficult hurdle and a difficult task. but I do believe that this is an amendment that can draw bipartisan concern. And I say that because all of us have daughters. wives. and sisters. This amendment deals with the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant program that my colleague from New York sponsored and many of us cosponsored and saw authorized through the Judiciary Committee. The amendment seeks to restore $34 million to the backlog of rape kit tests that are plaguing the justice system across America. If we go back more than a decade. New York City reported having 17.000 untested rape kits. In 2004. the Department of Justice indicated there was a backlog of hundreds of thousands of untested DNA kits. This is the only way that law enforcement can ensure that the cases are prosecuted and the right person is prosecuted. This is the only way women who have been violated and sexually abused can have their day in court. As someone having dealt with a victim of rape. having sat on the board of one of our community womens centers. I know the stories that theyve told. We have seen rape increase among our younger women. teenagers. even though during the Bush administrationand we supported itthere was an influx of dollars to the Advancing Justice account. We have still seen thousands of backlog cases. For example. in my own city of Houstonit has been acknowledged in San Antonio. Dallas. and Houston. and other cities across the State of Texas have acknowledged a significant backlog of untested rape kits in their police storage facility. at least 4.000 kits in Houston and 16.000 in Dallas and San Antonio. These are only cities in one State. Mr. Chairman. I believe in the ability to make the added $34 million just for the simple action of justice to millions of women that are yet unaccounted for or to be able to move the backlog. which. Mr. Chairman and my colleagues. has not even been assessed. The reason why the numbers are as low as people might assume they areand I do not believe 17.000 or 22.000 is lowis because the records of the individual jurisdictions are not kept. So these dollars would help to access additional resources directly pointed toward the backlog. I know that a lot of work was done. but the grant program under this bill. under the DOJ. as I indicated. is down 378 million. or 17 percent. This simply tries to close the gap on the hurt and the harm that have been done to those who have suffered a rape. Remember. justice delayed is justice denied. A rape kit that is now in storage containers around the Nation. because law enforcement doesnt have the resources at the local level to pierce the backlog. means that prosecutors are not able to prosecute the cases and women remain without justice. women who have been brutalized. women who have suffered the devastation of rape. many of whom suffer with. if you will. the devastation of that act for many years. Many of us know that many women ask the question. was it their fault. Weve moved beyond that. But I believe this amendment would at least provide the necessary resources in order to provide the overcoming of this terrible backlog. My colleagues. please help us. Please help us render justice and provide for the solving or the piercing of the backlog of rape kits that have not been tested throughout the Nation. I yield back the balance of my time.