Tennessee

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation estimates that there are approximately 20,000 untested rape kits at law enforcement agencies statewide. The State recently enacted legislation that could provide a more precise number.  

Senate Bill 1426 requires law enforcement agencies to conduct an inventory of the untested rape kits in their custody and report the number to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) by July 1, 2014. TBI would then report the total number of untested kits to the legislature by September 1, 2014. 

State Representative Antonio Parkinson introduced additional legislation on January 6, 2014, that would go a step further and require all Tennessee law enforcement agencies to count the previously untested rape kits in their custody and then submit those kits to the crime lab for testing within six months of the law's effective date. As to newly collected rape kits, law enforcement agencies would be required to send them to the crime lab for testing within 10 business days of receipt. The crime lab would then have six months to process that evidence. It is unlikely that this proposed legislation will pass as this year's state budget failed to include any funding for rape kit testing. 

As we have seen in the three states—Colorado, Illinois and Texas—that have enacted similar legislation, such reforms allow us to move closer to ending the backlog. This can happen in Tennessee, too. Take action today to advocate for transparency and change from our elected officials.