For Immediate Release: May 13, 2020
Contact: Melissa Schwartz, media@endthebacklog.org
NEW YORK – The Missouri legislature has passed S.B. 569, which mandates significant reforms in how the state handles untested sexual assault kits. The Joyful Heart Foundation (Joyful Heart), a national organization dedicated to ending the rape kit backlog, praised the move to expand survivors’ rights and mandate in law best practices for the submission and tracking of DNA evidence. The bill now heads to Governor Mike Parson for signature. Read our letter of support here.
“When law enforcement agencies track the untested kits in their custody, communities can take the necessary steps to test those kits, hold offenders accountable and bring justice to sexual assault survivors whose cases have languished, often for years—or even decades,” said Ilse Knecht, Director of Policy & Advocacy for Joyful Heart. “Ensuring all stakeholders in the criminal justice process can know the location and status of all newly collected sexual assault evidence kits will bring transparency to evidence kit processing and prevent a backlog from happening again.”
S.B. 569 paves the way for the testing of all rape kits, mandating that law enforcement pick up a sexual assault kit from a medical facility within 14 days and submit it to the lab within 14 days. It also requires that the Missouri Department of Public Safety establish a statewide Sexual Assault Kit Tracking System, with a portal for survivors to check the status of their kit.
Joyful Heart’s survivor-focused research shows that giving survivors a choice about how to receive information about their case can help counter the loss of self-determination and control at the core of the sexual assault experience. Building a rape kit tracking system with a portal for survivors to check the status of their kit at their convenience can give survivors the control they need to heal on their own terms.
The bill also grants survivors critical rights, including the right to receive information about the status and results of testing their rape kits, the right to have a counselor present during forensic medical exams and interviews with the law enforcement and prosecutors, and the right to be interviewed by an officer of the gender of their choice.
Additionally, S.B. 569 creates the Statewide Telehealth Network for Forensic Exams, which will provide guidance and technical assistance by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) to medical providers conducting such exams through telehealth, increasing access for sexual assault survivors.
Through its End the Backlog initiative, Joyful Heart is implementing a national campaign to pass comprehensive rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states framed around six pillars for reform. With the signing of S.B. 569 into law, Missouri has now enacted four of the six pillars. Learn more at http://www.endthebacklog.org/missouri.
“Behind every kit is a person—a sexual assault survivor—waiting for justice. We stand with every survivor who has taken the step of reporting the crime to the police and endured an invasive examination in search of DNA evidence left behind by the attacker. Every untested kit represents a missed opportunity to bring justice and healing to a survivor and increased safety to a community,” added Knecht.
Joyful Heart has created the premier national resource about the rape kit backlog, which includes an interactive map and resources for survivors, legislators, and the media. Learn more at: ENDTHEBACKLOG.org.