NEW YORK — Today, the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national organization working to end the backlog of untested rape kits nationwide, celebrates the unanimous passage of SB215, mandating the inclusion of a victim portal in the state’s rape kit tracking system, one of Joyful Heart’s top priorities in California.
In testimony before the California State Assembly’s Public Safety Committee today, the Joyful Heart Foundation (Joyful Heart) strongly urged passage of Assembly Bill 2481, which would require all sexual assault kits received by law enforcement before January 2016 be submitted to the appropriate crime lab for testing by January 20, 2021.
Following years of advocacy efforts led by State Senator Connie Leyva and Assemblymember David Chiu, California Governor Gavin Newsom tonight signed S.B. 22 into law. For the first time, California law will require law enforcement to submit all new rape kits connected to a reported crime for testing and the crime lab to process them in a timely manner. The Joyful Heart Foundation was an original sponsor of this effort alongside longtime partners Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and survivor Natasha Alexenko.
Tonight, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have mandated the testing of all newly collected rape kits. Although the Governor signed a bill into law to mandate the first statewide inventory of unprocessed rape kits, national best standards point to the importance of testing all kits. Both bills were passed unanimously by the legislature. The Joyful Heart Foundation was an original sponsor of these bills alongside longtime partners Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and survivor Natasha Alexenko.
The untested rape kit backlog denies justice for sexual assault survivors and communities. For every untested kit, there is a perpetrator who is not held accountable for their crime, free to re-offend and commit other crimes. Keith Asberry Jr., 33, of Antioch, California is one of those offenders. Asberry sexually assaulted at least five women […]
Sarah Haacke Byrd testified today before the California Senate Committee on Public Safety in support of rape kit reform legislation. Joyful Heart staff and California stakeholders have worked tirelessly in support of Senate Bill 1449, which is being heard by the Committee today. S.B. 1449 would mandate the swift submission and testing of all newly […]
This morning, Joyful Heart Foundation Managing Director Sarah Haacke Byrd testified before the California State Senate Public Safety Committee in strong support of Senate Bill 1449, which strengthens existing statute to ensure the timely submission and testing of sexual assault evidence kits and appropriates $2 million to help law enforcement agencies comply with the proposed amendments. In 2014, California enacted a law stating that law enforcement agencies “should” submit newly collected rape kits within 20 days. Due to the ambiguity of this language, agencies have adopted various interpretations of the law, and, far too often, do not send all kits for testing.
In an effort to fundamentally change the way California handles sexual assault kits, State Senator Connie Leyva and Assemblymember David Chiu have introduced two pieces of legislation to mandate the first statewide inventory and the testing of all newly collected rape kits. The Joyful Heart Foundation is proud to endorse this legislation alongside longtime partners Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and survivor Natasha Alexenko.
The Joyful Heart Foundation today announced that California has passed into law two important steps to reform the way the state addresses untested rape kits in law enforcement custody and to strengthen victim’s rights, including access to information about the status of their kit. This significant accomplishment represents a breakthrough in the California legislature on this important issue that Joyful Heart has long advocated for in partnership with Assemblyman David Chiu, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.
