The Accountability Project Uncovers Over 1,000 Additional Untested Rape Kits

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Since 2014, Joyful Heart has worked in partnership with pro bono law firm Goodwin LLP to uncover the number of untested rape kits in cities across the country through The Accountability Project. Using public records requests, we have uncovered more than 34,000 untested rape kits to date.

Earlier this month, we released information from 11 agencies—uncovering more than 1,000 untested kits—and documentation about sexual assault investigation procedures and lab turnaround times.

We thank these jurisdictions for responding to our requests for information. Please visit each of the city pages linked below for more information.

We are committed to shedding light on the true extent of the backlog, working to get every untested kit off the shelf and into the lab, taking dangerous offenders off the streets, and helping bring justice and healing to survivors whose cases have languished for years—or even decades. Stay tuned for more news from The Accountability Project in the coming weeks. 

You can help end the backlog today, right now. As state legislators across the country finalize their advocacy priorities for 2017, urge yours to keep rape kit reform at the top of their list.

WRITE YOUR LETTER TODAY

-By Ilse Knecht, Joyful Heart Foundation Director of Policy and Advocacy, February 21, 2017

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