Joyful Heart in the News

Vice-President Joe Biden on Thursday joined the top US prosecutor and the Manhattan district attorney to announce a $79m initiative to end a backlog of untested sexual assault DNA kits.

The initiative is funded by a $41m congressional allocation to the Justice Department and through $38m in civil forfeitures seized by the office of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance.

The joint effort promises to test more than 56,000 backlogged “rape kits” in 32 jurisdictions in 20 states, over two years. Grants to local agencies to carry out such tests will range from $97,000 to nearly $2m.

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