Joyful Heart in the News

Recently, the Joyful Heart Foundation announced that Jacksonville has 1,943 untested rape kits in law enforcement evidence storage facilities. Sadly, Jacksonville is not alone.

Despite the fact that DNA evidence can be an incredibly powerful tool to solve and prevent crimes, the federal government estimates that across the country there are hundreds of thousands of rape kits that have never been sent to a crime lab for testing.

We join experts in calling for the mandatory submission and testing of every rape kit booked into evidence and connected to a reported sexual assault. We stand with every survivor who has taken the courageous step of reporting the crime to the police and endured a four- to six-hour invasive examination in search of DNA evidence left behind by the attacker.

But all too often a decision is made not to test rape kits and case decisions about these violent crimes are made without regard to the powerfully important role DNA can play in solving current cases and preventing future crimes.

We can and should do better.

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