For Immediate Release: March 15, 2022
Contact: Olivia Hall, media@endthebacklog.org
NEW YORK – Joyful Heart Foundation applauds the passage of the 2022 omnibus appropriations bill, HR2471, which included key legislation and funding that will protect and support survivors, prevent violence, and address the rape kit backlog.
The omnibus bill contains a Joyful Heart priority bill, the Fairness for Rape Kit Backlog Survivors Act of 2022, sponsored by Senators Toomey and Cortez-Mastro. This bill would increase access to victim compensation for survivors whose kits languished untested for years or decades. Every state gives survivors the right to victim compensation which covers mental health counseling and other support, but most of them have short application deadlines. Under this bill, states would have three years to create a clear exception to these deadlines for survivors of the rape kit backlog who by no fault of their own have suffered long delays in their case.
“Survivors whose kits are part of the rape kit backlog and have waited years – and sometimes decades – for justice deserve uncomplicated access to victim compensation. Current state application deadlines penalize these survivors and keep them from receiving aid for their recovery and healing, ” said Ilse Knecht, Director of Policy & Advocacy at Joyful Heart Foundation. “We are proud to have long supported the Fairness for Rape Kit Backlog Survivors Act, which takes critical steps to remove this unfair barrier and help survivors obtain important resources they need to help them heal.”
H.R.2471 also includes the Violence Against Women Act, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), lead co-authors Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). A reauthorization will invest in and improve the response to the needs of communities across the country and bring us one step closer to ending gender-based violence. This will be the first time in almost a decade that VAWA has been reauthorized. While lawmakers have continued to approve funding for VAWA programs in annual funding legislation in the years since, advocates have said its reauthorization is necessary to update the legislation in order to adequately meet the needs of those it is designed to protect.
Additionally, the spending bill includes $201 million to reduce the backlog of unprocessed rape kits and other DNA evidence, including $50 million for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
If you would like an interview or additional comment by Ilse Knecht, please feel free to 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