KIYC: Statewide rape kit tracking system now operational in New Jersey
Kane In Your Corner spent three years investigating New Jersey’s treatment of survivors.
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New Jersey has taken another step forward in its treatment of sexual assault survivors. A statewide tracking system, giving survivors real-time information about the status of their rape kits, is now operational.
“Any time there's a move to get survivors more information about their rape kits and increase the accountability and transparency around the rape kit handling process is a really good day,” says Ilse Knecht, director of Policy and Advocacy for the Joyful Heart Foundation, which advocates for survivors. “So, we're very excited about this.”
Kane In Your Corner spent three years investigating New Jersey’s treatment of survivors. The investigation found thousands of survivors underwent hours-long forensic exams to have their bodies swabbed for DNA, only for prosecutors to decide their rape kits weren’t worth testing.
RELATED: New Jersey launches new real-time tracking system for rape kits
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In the wake of the investigation, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued a directive, requiring law enforcement to test all rape kits that survivors authorize to be tested. On Aug. 1, the state took the next step, launching the tracking system.
“The extent of the reform and the sort of pace of it has been really outstanding, and a lot of it is due to your work, so I want to thank you for that,” Knecht tells Kane In Your Corner.
A spokesperson for the attorney general says survivors who undergo new forensic exams will be given confidential login information. That doesn’t apply to survivors like Lena Morrison, whose kit is one of more than 5,000 that have yet to be submitted for testing. Under the AG’s directive, that backlog must be eliminated by the end of the year.
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