History

In 2009, Hargitay met Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy at a congressional hearing about the backlog of unsubmitted rape kits and learned of the more than 10,000 untested kits in Detroit alone. Soon after this meeting, Joyful Heart started working closely with local stakeholders to address the problem. Joyful Heart’s involvement in the national sexual assault kit issue then expanded to Cleveland, Los Angeles, Memphis, and many other jurisdictions. The organization has helped these jurisdictions by raising awareness of the existence of the backlog, providing guidance and technical assistance to jurisdictions working to address their backlog, and helping with fundraising efforts. In 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation named ending the rape kit backlog as its top priority.

Recognizing a gap in federal funding to address the problem of kits sitting on shelves in law enforcement custody and the necessary work on cases to be done after testing, Joyful Heart worked with then Vice President Biden in 2015 to create the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which provides funding to communities to inventory untested rape kits, analyze those kits, investigate the resulting cases, prosecute offenders, and support survivors. Then, in 2016, Joyful Heart launched our national campaign to address the backlog by changing policy at the state and local levels. Today, we have worked in every state to raise awareness about this crisis and partnered with stakeholders in most states to create reform. Our campaign will continue until every state has adopted comprehensive rape kit reform.