Funding that helps states eliminate rape kit testing backlogs set to expire

[Eugene]

Source: ABC News

Funding that helps states eliminate rape kit testing backlogs set to expire

By LAUREN LANTRY
Sep 6, 2019, 7:37 PM ET

The federal grant program that helps states eliminate backlogs in rape kit testing is set to expire, and advocates said Friday that House Democrats need to act quickly before the money runs out at the end of September.

Right now, more than 100,000 rape kits in states across the country remain untested, some even stored away in law enforcement warehouses, advocates said. As years pass, statutes of limitations in the states bar prosecution, making it much harder, if not impossible, to identify perpetrators and bring charges. Without the federal funding, advocates say, it’s possible many of the rape kits might never be tested.

Since 2004, the Debbie Smith Act -- the name of the grants measure -- has been reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support. Almost 200,000 offenders have been identified because of the grant money, they said, and overall, the grant money is responsible for over 40% of all DNA matches since 2005. Funding for backlogged rape kits also comes from non-profits, local, and state funds.

“We need Speaker Pelosi to step up and let the Judiciary Committee know that this is a priority,” Scott Berkowitz, the president of the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), said at a news conference on Friday.

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/funding-helps-states-eliminate-rape-kit-testing-backlogs/story?id=65432081

[Tanuki]

1. Yet ICE wants to subject 100k migrants to DNA testing, while those 100k rape kits languish.

Interesting funding priority.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/ice-wants-to-subject-up-to-100000-migrants-to-dna-tests/

"The Trump administration wants to conduct DNA tests on up to 100,000 migrants at the border to determine whether they’re falsely claiming to be family in order to avoid being detained.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a solicitation on Tuesday for a company to administer up to 50,000 DNA tests along the southern border between June and November, along with the option to conduct an additional 50,000 tests by April. The program, called Operation Double Helix 2.0, represents a dramatic expansion of a DNA testing pilot program that ICE launched earlier this month."....(more)

[Igel]

3. State versus federal versus local.

Also the little matter of what a "national emergency" is and how Congress allocates money.


What I've found most interesting about the rape-kit results for the last decade or so is how so many rapists tend to be serial rapists, while all the assumptions seemed to be that you could profile a rapist and say, "Ah, this one might be responsible for this stranger rape, as well, but not those other 10 cases."

[littlemissmartypants]

2. I hope that the house Dems don't let us down. nt