For Immediate Release: March 11, 2020
Contact: Melissa Schwartz, media@endthebacklog.org
NEW YORK – West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has signed House Bill 4476 into law, which would mandate the swift testing of every rape kit in the state. The Joyful Heart Foundation, a national leader in the effort to reform rape kit policies across the country, today praised the move. The law also creates a new Sexual Assault Forensic Examination commission, which will inform future efforts.
“Behind every rape kit is a person—a sexual assault survivor—waiting for justice,” said Ilse Knecht, Joyful Heart’s Director of Policy and Advocacy. “The rape kit backlog represents a failure of the criminal justice system to protect survivors and hold perpetrators accountable. We can and must do better. When jurisdictions test every kit, they solve crimes, bring answers and a path to justice for survivors, take criminals off the streets, and exonerate the wrongly convicted.”
Testing all rape kits not only makes communities safer, it can also save millions of dollars. According to researchers from Case Western Reserve University, testing just 4,300 previously unsubmitted kits in Cleveland saved $38.7 million, or $8,893 per tested sexual assault kit.
West Virginia’s new law requires health care providers to send rape kits directly to the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory for testing within 30 days of collection, bypassing law enforcement agencies and streamlining the rape kit handling process. The bill also includes a compliance section that introduces a fine not less than $50 nor more than $200, or not more than 60-day confinement, or both for any person who willfully neglects or refuses to perform any act of the law.
The law also creates The Sexual Assault Forensic Examination commission by December 1, 2020, which is tasked with developing a strategic plan to: (1) establish the order of priority for testing kits; (2) test all of the previous kits that can be tested; and (3) establish a tracking system for all kits tested after December 1, 2020, that will allow victims to log in and obtain the status of their test kits.
“The Sexual Assault Forensic Examination commission’s mandate has the potential to bring West Virginia into compliance with all six of Joyful Heart’s six pillars of reform. We look forward to working with state legislators, local advocates, and the commission to bring further reform to the state. We are grateful to the elected leaders and stakeholders who remained committed to seeing these important policies enacted and implemented,” added Knecht.
Joyful Heart has developed a national campaign to pass comprehensive rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states framed around six pillars for reform. Learn more about efforts in the state at: http://www.endthebacklog.org/west-virginia.