For Immediate Release: April 20, 2022
Contact: Olivia Hall, o.hall@joyfulheartfoundation.org
NEW YORK – The Joyful Heart Foundation is proud to announce the new, redesigned EndtheBacklog.org website as the most complete resource of advocacy tools and information about the rape kit backlog in the United States.
Since 2010, when Joyful Heart made the rape kit backlog its top advocacy priority, the End the Backlog project has shed light on the dismaying scope of the backlog, the incontrovertible urgency of testing rape kit evidence, and the political changes necessary to achieve comprehensive rape kit reform.
The new End the Backlog website not only makes the last decade of findings, documents, and data available in one comprehensive location, but makes engagement and advocacy more accessible than ever.
“The rape kit backlog outraged me from the moment I learned about it. I know that many—especially survivors with a kit in the backlog—share that reaction,” says Mariska Hargitay, Founder and President of the Joyful Heart Foundation. “That’s why all of us at Joyful Heart are proud to present this bold, comprehensive and rigorously crafted response: the new EndtheBacklog.org website. We took our End the Backlog initiative, already dedicated to shedding light, and turned it into an unprecedented tool for addressing injustice and catalyzing progress. EndtheBacklog.org offers not only information—down to the actual answers to our Freedom of Information Act requests—but interactive modes of engagement, resources for advocates, press, law enforcement—and survivors—and the same overarching commitment that informs all we do. We celebrate the partnerships and collective action that we know EndtheBacklog.org will inspire.”
New functionality on the site includes:
Enhanced Backlog Map
The enhanced, interactive Backlog Map features a dedicated page for each state, Washington, D.C, and Puerto Rico, that presents information on statewide kit counts, current reform status, and a timeline of reform efforts.
Each state reform timeline includes:
- Step-by-step information on relevant bills, from introduction through passage or failure.
- Local, state, and federal funding information.
- Changes in state inventories over time.
- Non-legislative actions and reforms.
Six Pillars of Reform Adherence Tracking
The new End the Backlog site also features enhanced tracking of states’ implementation of the Six Pillars of Reform, the first-of-its-kind comprehensive roadmap to rape kit reform.
Accountability Center
The Accountability Center includes a complete catalog of all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Open Records requests that End the Backlog has issued in state and local jurisdictions, the status of each request, as well as the documented responses from law enforcement.
Integrated Advocacy Tools
Integrated state-specific tools make engagement and advocacy easier than ever. Users can reach out to legislators, urge lawmakers to enact legislation that supports survivors of sexual assault, and join the grassroots advocacy crucial to transforming the criminal justice system’s response to these crimes.
Expanded, User-Specific Resources
An expanded resource hub offers user-specific resources, covering topics such as trauma-informed care, best practices for law enforcement, legislative guidance, as well as hotlines and help for survivors.
We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the team at Automattic who helped us create a WordPress website that far exceeded our expectations for what an advocacy website can be.
“Our new EndtheBacklog.org site provides unprecedented resources to those working for change,” says Lauran Bromley, Managing Director of The Joyful Heart Foundation. “I am deeply proud of the brilliant team that has assembled these comprehensive, up-to-date portraits of the states that model how to rectify this issue, and the many states where injustices remain that affect survivors every day. This site is a testament to our enduring commitment to ending the rape kit backlog forever, and we have raised the bar on what organizations can do to advocate for change in this issue space.”
“Changemakers, advocates, legislators, reporters, first-responders, and—most importantly—survivors are the guiding lights of our End the Backlog relaunch. This new site reflects a decade of work and hard-won progress to end this tragedy, and it stands as an invitation to join us in forging a path to healing and justice to survivors,” says Ilse Knecht, Director of Policy and Advocacy.
The rape kit backlog is now a known fact. It is, and has always been, an outrage. It must now be a priority. EndtheBacklog.org offers an unprecedented, comprehensive tool to eradicate the backlog, hold perpetrators to account, and support survivors in their quest for justice.
For additional information or quotes, contact Olivia Hall at O.Hall@Joyfulheartfoundation.org.
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The mission of the Joyful Heart Foundation is to transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever. www.joyfulheartfoundation.org