Joyful Heart in the News

More than 40 police agencies to get $79M to test rape kits

September 11, 2015
USA Today
By
Steve Reilly and Charisse Jones

Vice President Joe Biden and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. on Thursday announced they will devote a combined $79 million to combat the accumulation of untested sexual assault kits held by police agencies across the country.

The combined grants from the Manhattan DA and the U.S. Justice Department will provide funds to more than 40 law enforcement jurisdictions to pay for crime-lab processing of 70,000 untested sexual assault evidence kits, expediting a process that could help identify perpetrators of sex crimes.

At a news conference in New York City, Vance characterized the combined grants as "the single largest contribution toward ending the rape kit backlog that has ever been made” and said those monies "represent the best opportunity in a generation to take rapists out of our communities.''

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