You can leave this site quickly.
Learn more about Internet safety.
New State Laws To End The Untested Rape Kit Backlog
During its second year, Joyful Heart’s national campaign to pass comprehensive rape kit reform continued to build momentum. Since January, an exceptional 46 rape kit reform bills were introduced in 24 states. We worked with partners in 11 states and helped lawmakers amend several drafts of legislation. As a result, we celebrate 15 states passing 14 rape kit reform laws that include one or more of our six pillars.
The problem with rape kits
The original brilliance of the rape kit stemmed from the then-novel realization that the body of “a survivor of rape is a crime scene and there’s valuable evidence there,” says Ilse Knecht, policy and advocacy director for the Joyful Heart Foundation.
Detroit’s rape kit backlog identified more than 800 serial rapists
Detroit’s eight-year dive into its untested rape kit backlog identified more than 800 serial rapists, illustrating the importance for law enforcement to take sexual violence seriously as part of the “Me Too” movement empowering survivors around the world.
I AM EVIDENCE—Time for justice!
If you believe in justice for the victims of sexual abuse, then make Mariska Hargitay’s HBO documentary - I AM EVIDENCE - coming to HBO in the next few months - a priority to watch. It will enrage you to know that over 400,000 rape kits in the USA have remained untested, leaving victims without justice and predators on the loose to rape again.
How Mariska Hargitay's 'Law & Order' Role Spurred HBO's Sexual Assault Doc
After 18 years of starring in Law & Order: SVU, Mariska Hargitay is taking on sexual assault offscreen.
The star of NBC’s long-running procedural series is a producer of I Am Evidence, a new documentary highlighting the hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in the United States. The dormant status of these kits, some of which have been left in police evidence storage rooms for decades, mirrors the pattern of how the criminal justice system has historically treated sexual assault victims. Meanwhile, perpetrators are never held accountable for their crimes.
Reform Is Happening
With its $35 million investment, the New York District Attorney’s Office will help communities achieve the results that rape kit testing has shown to bring time and time again: safety, justice and healing.
Number of States Seeking to End the Rape Kit Backlog Continues to Grows
Over the past several weeks, the colors of the ENDTHEBACKLOG.org map, which demonstrates everything we currently know about the rape kit backlog nationwide, have been changing.
Introducing the new ENDTHEBACKLOG.org
We're proud to share the new www.ENDTHEBACKLOG.org, our website dedicated to shining a light on and ending the rape kit backlog—hundreds of thousands of rape kits collected in the aftermath of a sexual assault, sitting untested in police and crime lab storage facilities.
2011: The Year of National Rape Kit Backlog Reform
The end of a year inspires bold predictions for the next one. At the end of this year, I am predicting that 2011 will be a year of unprecedented reform of the backlog of untested rape kits in the United State
