KANSAS CITY. MO. — With a growing glut of untested rape kits causing delays in sexual violence investigations across the country, Sen. Josh Hawley pushed for support Thursday to reauthorize a bill to fix the backlog.
During a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said the Debbie Smith Act of 2019 could bring justice for survivors of rape and sexual crimes.
“It is completely unacceptable that survivors of this horrendous crime — who voluntarily undergo the often invasive, certainly very difficult, effort of getting a rape kit completed — would then have those kits not tested and not used,” he said in a speech to lawmakers. “As a consequence, their attackers and perpetrators would go unprosecuted.”
According to the advocacy group End the Backlog, hundreds of the thousands of rape kits currently are untested in crime and police labs around the country due to the lack of policies and protocols for testing, tight budgets and lack of resources among other causes.
The Debbie Smith Act, which was named for a rape survivor, was signed into law in 2004 and has provided federal funding to states experiencing backlogs. Hawley called it a key component in the fight to bring justice in sexual violence cases.
“Too many criminals in many other states continue to walk the streets because of the huge backlog, nationally, of untested DNA rape kits,” he said. “This legislation is a crucial part of making sure that those kits get tested, that these cases are solved, that perpetrators are prosecuted and that criminals are finally sent to prison.”
The Debbie Smith Act was reauthorized in 2008 and 2014.
According to data from recent years, End the Backlog figures show almost 8,000 untested rape kits in Kansas and Missouri, which often means years spent waiting for justice for victims.
“For some clients, once they hear that it will take that amount of time to test their kit, some of them might choose not to report the case (to police),” Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault advocacy specialist Audrey Yazell said. “For survivors, it means that every single day they might be thinking about their assault, because they’re not able to move forward.”
Yazell echoed Hawley’s belief that the backlog could lead to future crimes.
“While the rape kits aren’t being tested in that period of time, that means that person who sexually assaulted someone is still out there,” she said.
Yazell said authorizing extra assistance could bring hope to survivors.
“I think it sends the message to survivors that we care about this and we’re listening to it,” she said. “I hope that they feel like there are people doing things and people trying to make changes to make this process better for them.”
The Debbie Smith Act of 2019 unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday and now goes before the full Senate.
MOCSA encourages anyone who has experienced a sexual crime to call the Missouri Crisis Line at 816-531-0233 or the Kansas Crisis Line at 913-642-0233.
