Advocacy

Through our advocacy programs, Joyful Heart seeks greater access to justice and healing for survivors. We are working to improve the criminal justice and community responses to violence and abuse through reforms to laws and policies. We want to bring more compassion and less judgment for survivors and to enhance their access to justice, if that's what they choose. 

Every 73 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. In the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault, a victim may choose to undergo a 4-6 hour invasive medical forensic examination to collect evidence left behind during the assault. 

The DNA evidence contained in rape kits can be an incredibly powerful tool to solve and prevent crime. It can identify an unknown assailant and confirm the presence of a known suspect; affirm the survivor's account of the attack and discredit the suspect; connect the suspect to other crime scenes and identify serial offenders; and it can exonerate the wrongly convicted. To accomplish these things, the rape kits must be tested. 

And yet, hundreds of thousands of times, a decision is made not to process the evidence. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits sit untested in police department and crime lab storage facilities across the country in what is known as the rape kit backlog. Each kit represents a lost opportunity to bring healing and justice to a survivor of sexual violence and safety to a community. 

“To me, the backlog is one of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we regard these crimes in our society. Testing rape kits sends a fundamental and crucial message to victims of sexual violence: You matter. What happened to you matters. Your case matters. For that reason, The Joyful Heart Foundation, which I founded in 2004, has made ending the rape kit backlog our number one advocacy priority.” — Mariska Hargitay

End The Backlog

Since 2010, Joyful Heart has made the elimination of the rape kit backlog a top priority through our End the Backlog initiative. In partnership with federal, state and local government, non-profit organizations, law enforcement, advocates, and survivors, we are working to bring attention, critical funding, and reforms to improve the criminal justice response to sexual violence.

We have one clear, ambitious goal: to eliminate the existing backlog of untested rape kits across the United States and prevent the backlog from happening again.

Our work is focused on advocating for comprehensive rape kit reform legislation and policies that are survivor-centered, as well as expanding the national dialogue about rape kit testing through increased public awareness. We partner with jurisdictions nationwide to secure the funding necessary to end their backlogs and pursue investigative leads and to develop and implement a plan for testing. 

Through ENDTHEBACKLOG.org, the only website wholly dedicated to ending the rape kit backlog, we shed light on the powerful results of testing rape kit evidence and draw attention to the political and financial changes necessary to achieve comprehensive rape kit reform.

We are currently working toward these goals through several strategic advocacy and education campaigns:

• Legislative campaign. We are leading a multi-year, nationwide advocacy campaign to pass rape kit reform in all 50 states. To learn more about the status of rape kit reform where you live, view our interactive map.
• Federal advocacy. We advocate for continued support of the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grants and other critical grant programs on Capitol Hill. 
• Uncovering the extent of the backlog. With our pro bono partner Goodwin LLP, we have issued public records requests to law enforcement agencies and crime labs in more than 50 jurisdictions. We have identified more than 225,000 untested rape kits sitting in police, crime lab or other storage facilities across the United States.
• Education and awareness. We engage the general public, using media coverage, our website, and social media platforms for public education and grassroots advocacy efforts. 

Ending the backlog starts with knowing about it—educating yourself and others. Visit endthebacklog.org to learn more about the backlog and our work to eliminate it.