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Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Monday enlisted some star power in her push for funding and legislation to help clear a backlog of thousands of untested Detroit rape kits.

The "Law & Order: SVU" star's Joyful Heart Foundation will serve as a beneficiary of the film.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy speaks at a press conference at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice about the 11,000 untested rape kits in the county waiting testing and investigation, Monday, March 10, 2014. Worthy was joined by actress and Joyful Heart Foundation founder Mariska Hargitay to talk about Detroit's progress in testing and getting justice for survivors of sexual assault.

Actress Mariska Hargitay, who portrays a police detective on television, on Monday pledged her support for a real-life crime-fighting effort: quicker testing for a backlog of thousands of rape kits in the Detroit area and across Michigan.

ENDTHEBACKLOG is a part of the Joyful Heart Foundation’s initiative to end the injustice of untested rape kits, and its efforts have not gone unnoticed.

States across the country are proposing and enacting legislation to tackle the estimated 400,000 untested rape kits nationwide.

The White House Council on Women and Girls released a report in January entitled “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action.”

Last week we stood together as Memphis made a public commitment to address and eliminate the city’s backlog of untested sexual assault kits.

Memphis has the largest known number of untested rape kits in the country. It is why the City of Memphis held a news conference Wednesday morning to announce several developments regarding the city's rape kit backlog.

Mariska Hargitay discusses how her role on 'Law and Order: SVU' influenced her decision to found the Joyful Heart Foundation, and shaped the mission to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.