Statement on the Introduction of the

Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act

Senator Al Franken

Sexual assault is a heinous crime.  It is also a startlingly common one: last year, ninety-thousand people were raped.  We as a nation have an obligation to help the survivors of sexual assault—by providing them prompt medical attention, and by bringing their assailants to justice. 

Thanks to modern technology, we have an unparalleled tool to bring sexual predators to justice: forensic DNA analysis.  Using the DNA evidence collected in a rape kit, a police department can conclusively identify an assailant—even when the survivor cannot visually identify her attacker.  When DNA collected in rape kits matches existing DNA records, police can quickly capture habitual rapists before they strike again.  Rape kit DNA evidence is survivors’ best bet for justice.  It is also communities’ best bet for public safety.

Unfortunately, we have failed to make adequate use of DNA analysis.  In 1999, a study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice estimated that there was a backlog of over 180,000 untested rape kits.  In 2004, responding to studies like this one, then-Senator Biden, Chairman Leahy and others worked to pass the Debbie Smith Act, a law named after a rape survivor whose backlogged rape kit was tested six years after her assault.  That act provided federal funding for the testing of backlogged DNA evidence.  Unfortunately, it did not require those funds to test DNA evidence in rape kits.

Because of this loophole—and because many states and localities  simply did not use the Debbie Smith funds they were allocated—the promise of the Debbie Smith Act remains unfulfilled.  Since 2004, the federal government has distributed about $500 million dollars in Debbie Smith grants to law enforcement agencies around the country.   Local figures suggest that these funds have not had their intended effect.   In March 2009, Los Angeles County had 12,500 untested rape kits in police storage.  L.A. County is not alone.  This fall, the Houston Police Department found at least 4,000 untested rape kits in storage, and Detroit reported a backlog of possibly 10,000 kits.

Those are just three cities.  This means that potentially hundreds of thousands of rape kits are sitting, untested, in police departments and crime labs around the country.  That’s hundreds of thousands of women who have not seen justice.  That’s countless assailants still free and countless new assaults that have occurred because of this.  The New York Times recently highlighted a case—which  occurred years after the passage of The Debbie Smith Act—where a rapist struck twice while the rape kit for one of his earlier victims sat unprocessed at a state crime lab.  Sadly, that lab’s four month processing delay was one of the shortest in the state.

When rape kits aren’t tested, rapists aren’t caught.  When rape kits aren’t tested, more women are raped.  Having a backlog of thousands of kits endangers our communities and sends a clear message to perpetrators and survivors of sexual violence: that cases of sexual assault are not a priority.  Unfortunately, because our nation lacks any mechanism to track rape kit backlogs, we have no way of knowing the full scope of this rape kit backlog—and the national tragedy that it causes.

The Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009, which I am introducing today with Senator Grassley, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Hatch, addresses the national rape kit backlog and several other problems that work to deny justice to survivors of sexual assault.  These include the denial of free rape kits to survivors of sexual assault, and the shortage of trained health professionals capable of administering rape kit exams. 

First, this bill will create strong financial incentives for states to clear their rape kit backlogs once and for all.  This bill will reward states who make progress in clearing up their rape kit backlog and start processing their incoming rape kits in a timely manner.  It will penalize those that don’t, while allowing them the opportunity to regain any lost funds.  Having a backlog isn’t an impossible situation to remedy.  In just a few years, the city of New York cleaned up their rape kit backlog, and as a result, saw its arrest rate for rapes jump from forty to seventy percent.

Second, this bill will put measures in place to track progress and hold states and localities accountable.  Law enforcement agencies will be responsible for reporting their reductions of rape kit backlogs, and the Department of Justice will be responsible for analyzing that data and reporting back to Congress.

Third, this bill will guarantee that survivors of sexual assault don’t ever pay for their rape kits.  Right now, states must cover the full cost of a rape kit examination, either upfront or through reimbursement.  But some states don’t even cover half of the cost.   And survivors who live in states who are in compliance with the law still mistakenly receive bills because of the confusing nature of the reimbursement process.  We don’t bill criminals for fingerprint processing.   Survivors of sexual assault should never see the bill for their rape kit exam, let alone pay any upfront costs.

Fourth, this bill will train more health professionals to administer rape kit exams.  If survivors of sexual assault are lucky enough to have their rape kit processed, it is important to ensure it isn’t declared inadmissible in court due to faulty evidence collection.

Lastly, this bill will provide funds for a study on the availability of trained health professionals to administer rape kit exams at Indian Health Services facilities.  Recent studies have shown that Native American women suffer a disproportionately high amount of sexual violence, and we need to make sure that IHS has the proper resources it needs to serve survivors.

We have waited too long to address the rape kit backlog in the United States—to the detriment of survivors and our communities.  It is time to aggressively clear rape kit backlogs and put rapists where they belong: off our streets and behind bars.  With the federal government beginning to collect more DNA samples from convicted, non-violent offenders—and dozens of state governments following its lead—inaction now would mean that rape kits wait longer on the shelf, rape survivors wait longer for justice, and rapists spend more time on the streets.

Survivors of sexual assault do not deserve this.  They deserve justice.  I want to continue Congress’s work in trying to address this issue.  In doing so, I follow in the footsteps of people like Vice President Biden and Chairman Leahy, who have consistently and powerfully championed sexual assault survivors within the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the floor of the Senate.

I ask that my colleagues join Senator Grassley, Senator Feinstein, Senator Hatch, and me in supporting the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act of 2009.  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be included in the record.