Joyful Heart is leading a national campaign with an ambitious goal—to pass comprehensive rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states. Enacting Joyful Heart’s six pillars is the only way to ensure that neither discretion nor resources can be used any longer as an excuse to deny sexual assault survivors the justice they deserve. Since […]
Our guest author today is Natasha Alexenko, a survivor, activist, and educator who is working to change the criminal justice system’s response to sexual assault. In 2011, Natasha started Natasha’s Justice Project, a nonprofit dedicated to processing the untested sexual assault kits in the United States. Here, she reflects on being a survivor during National […]
2017 was a year of unprecedented progress for our campaign to end the backlog of untested rape kits through state legislative reform. Lawmakers in 34 states introduced 77 bills embracing our six pillars of rape kit reform—more than ever before. And they were more successful than ever: 18 rape kit reform laws and four resolutions […]
Last year, legislators from 34 states took action to eliminate their state’s backlog of untested rape kits. Other elected officials and state leaders bolstered these efforts, ensuring that elected officials from attorneys general to governors are exercising the full authority of their offices to offer a path to justice for survivors, apprehend offenders, and make […]
Testing rape kits swiftly helps link crimes together and identify serial rapists sooner. Studies of perpetrators identified through testing backlogged kits show that serial offenders commit many types of violent crimes, including crimes against intimate partners and acquaintances. Testing rape kits and uploading suspect DNA into the federal database helps prevent future sexual assaults and […]
Sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse are inextricably linked. While Joyful Heart’s top policy priority is ending the backlog of untested rape kits, we frame this work to achieve our broader mission: ending this violence forever. This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we explore the overlap between domestic violence and sexual assault, and how efforts […]
The Joyful Heart Foundation, one of the leading advocacy organizations working toward nationwide rape kit reform, today applauded awards by the federal government of more than $34 million in grants to address the backlog of untested sexual assault kits in jurisdictions including Georgia, Kentucky and Washington State, as well as in Albuquerque, Austin, Cleveland, Orleans Parish (Louisiana), New York City, and Philadelphia.
This summer, the Policy and Advocacy team at Joyful Heart welcomed two undergraduate interns to our New York office. Emma and Julia gained hands-on experience in our ongoing campaign to eliminate the untested rape kit backlog and conducted independent research projects to inform our future policy work. Here, Emma and Julia share their reflections and […]
The movement to end the untested rape kit backlog got a significant boost from the federal government this month when it issued the first-ever national guidelines for handling rape kits. On August 8, the National Institute of Justice—the research, development, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Justice—released National Best Practices for Sexual Assault […]
