NJ attorney general mandate changes how rape kits are processed following KIYC investigation
Attorney General Matt Platkin’s directive comes after a three-year Kane In Your Corner investigation, “Victims of the System."
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New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin says he hopes his decision to test all rape kits released to law enforcement will give survivors a “sense of justice.”
Platkin’s comments come one day after he issued a directive mandating that all Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) kits released to law enforcement must now be tested.
“This has been a long time coming,” Platkin told Kane In Your Corner. “I'm proud of the advocates who have worked so hard to ensure that we can get to this point, because I know that their sense of justice now will be filled,”
Platkin’s directive comes after a three-year Kane In Your Corner investigation, “Victims of the System,” which exposed that despite its longtime claim that it had “no backlog” of SAFE kits, New Jersey actually had tens of thousands of untested kits. The state was one of a dozen that still allowed prosecutors to choose not to test kits even when survivors wanted them tested, a situation some sex assault survivors said made them feel like they’d been victimized for a second time.
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The directive also marks a huge change from what the Attorney General’s Office was saying on the issue as recently as a few months ago. In January, Patricia Teffenhart, director of the NJOAG’s Division of Violence Intervention and Victim’s Assistance, said, “We do not believe that all kits should be tested. We believe that all survivors should have an opportunity to have their specimens collected.”
Platkin now says testing every kit is just the beginning. “It's not just that we will be testing all kits released to law enforcement, it's that we are building a public-facing portal for survivors to have access to their information in real-time,” he says.
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For survivors who had shared their stories with Kane In Your Corner, the change in policy is very welcome news. One survivor, who News 12 agreed to identify only as “Jane,” says: “Cannot thank you guys enough. It wasn’t exactly what I expected the outcome to be, but it’s so much better because it is going to prevent a lot of pain for future women… Thank you on behalf of everyone else who felt like me.”
All previously untested kits in New Jersey should be tested by the end of next year. When other states have tested backlogged kits, they’ve often arrested hundreds of serial rapists.
To be clear, rape survivors still have the right to choose not to have their kit tested. If they opt for that, their “hold kit” will be retained for 20 years, in case they change their mind.
