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News 12 Staff

RTNJPowerPolitics08172024BBlock230pm_2024-08-17-14-55-20

Welcome back to New Jersey Power and Politics. I'm Walt Kane in this week for Eric Lanz runner, a New Jersey State Senator has written new legislation that would require all rape kits in New Jersey to be tested. And he credits a news 12 investigation for exposing why that needs to happen. When I did call the police, they didn't seem to take it very seriously. Katie Brennan was at the center of one of New Jersey's most infamous cases of sexual assault as a volunteer on Governor Murphy's election campaign, Brennan accused a senior campaign official of raping her. It was to this day, the most trauma parts of my entire experience remain the aspects where folks don't believe you. Brennan's accusations led to legislative hearings. The Murphy campaign agreed to pay her a million dollar settlement but prosecutors would never pursue criminal charges. I as a person with relative power and resources and a white woman of privilege, if I could not take those steps forward successfully, just imagine how hard it is for everybody else. Brennan's rape kit was tested at the State Police crime lab even though prosecutors told her DNA would not prove if the sex was consensual. Many sex assault survivors in New Jersey don't even get that far a cane in your corner investigation found one third of all rape kits released to law enforcement in New Jersey are never tested. We're one of just a dozen states where prosecutors can choose not to test kits even when survivors want them tested are expected once I released it for it to at least be tested, they can probably just be in a box sitting somewhere for all. I know this is fixable, admit that we were wrong and move forward. Now, one New Jersey lawmaker is trying to do that. These aren't numbers. These are people. Senator Joe Cryan says our canine in your corner investigation has inspired him to introduce new legislation. It would require all rape kits released to law enforcement, be sent to the crime lab within 10 days and tested within six months. He says it's the least New Jersey can do for sex assault survivors. They go through this experience and we're not there for the support that they need in the criminal justice system at every step of the way to me. That's beyond appalling. This isn't the first time legislation requiring all rape kits to be tested has been introduced in New Jersey, but so far it's never gotten out of committee. Brian believes in the wake of our investigation this time it will pass. I think your reporting on this is just outstanding. You've highlighted an issue, you forced it forward. Um And you are going to make New Jersey do the things that should have been done previously and I appreciate that. That's what great journalism is all about C Ryan's legislation may also not be the only reform in the works news. 12 has learned the New Jersey Attorney General is now considering a directive that could require law enforcement to test all rape kits survivors release and also to come up with a plan to test any previously untested backlogged kits. Joining me now is someone who was very hard for rape kit reform. Ilsa connect director of policy and advocacy for the Joyful Heart Foundation, which advocates for sexual assault survivors. Ailsa. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me. Well, to begin with your reaction to developments. Uh This, this is what you've been fighting for. It is uh we're thrilled with the progress that New Jersey is making at this point. Um A lot of the directives coming out of the A GS office are covering our six pillars of reform. Um That uh we've been, you know, pushing across the United States and, and specifically in New Jersey. Uh The Senator Cryan Bill looks great. It has a couple of our pillars and we're feeling really confident that survivors in New Jersey will finally have their kits tested and that their cases will finally be taken seriously. Now, the Attorney General's office uh is clearly working on rape kit reform. The directive appearing on an unpublished page that was on the internet. It's a work in progress but it shows the directive that's being considered and a spokesperson con, you know, confirms that this is in fact a work in progress until recently, though the A GS office had argued it wasn't necessary to test every kit because they said, you know, maybe the survivor might know the attacker. So there's just no way to prove the case otherwise, uh, the DNA might not matter. What's the problem with that kind of thinking that the DNA doesn't matter. Well, DNA is a very powerful tool and the DNA database is a very powerful tool and we encourage law enforcement across the country to maximize those tools by collecting as much DNA as they possibly can. Um, making sure that offender DNA is in the database as it should be and that all kits are tested. What is really important to understand is that you don't get a lot of the connection between crimes, um, and between offenders if you don't use the DNA database and you don't get that if you're really not testing all the kits that are collected. So we don't like to see any carve outs. If a survivor has reported the crime to police and said I want my kit tested, then just test the kit take, you know, it's time to take the discretion out. It hasn't worked in many many states it's left kids on the shelves that represent offenders who have been left on the streets to harm again and again and again. And it's really just time for New Jersey to, to join the 38 states that have decided that testing all kits is important and that it is the right thing to do assuming New Jersey does eventually either pass the legislation or issue the, uh, order to test all kits. And especially if they're also testing previously untested kits. Where would that rank us relative to the rest of the country? What else would you like to see New Jersey? Do? I think it would be amazing if New Jersey actually adopted all of our pillars at once and I think it's possible. Um, you know, I will say first thing is that there needs to be a very thorough inventory, a statewide inventory that looks at all years that kits have been collected in New Jersey and how many really are on the shelves we saw from 2018 to 2020. You know, there are more than 1000 but you multiply that by all the years that kits have been collected in New Jersey, it, it could be in the 10 thousands. We need to get a final number there. We need to mandate that all of the kits that are sitting on shelves now are tested. We need to mandate the new testing, the, the testing of the newly collected kits that survivors are, you know, are presenting for today. The tracking system needs to get up and operational to create accountability and transparency around the rape kit testing and uh handling process. We need to make sure victims have rights to know the status of the rape kit. Most victims leave the hospital and never hear again about it. Um And we need to make sure that funding is available to make, to test all of the kits to keep the rape kit tracking uh going. So, you know, pillars is possible in New Jersey, Ailsa. Thank you so much. We'll be back with more New Jersey power and politics.

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RTNJPowerPolitics08172024CBlock230pm_2024-08-17-14-59-51

Welcome back to New Jersey, Power and Politics. I'm Walt Kane in this week for Eric L Gruner, New Jersey. Congressman, Bill Krell back in the hospital again just days after he was discharged. Pascrell staff says he is in stable condition. He's the second oldest Congressman in America at 87. He had just been released from the hospital after a three week stay doing due to a respiratory infection at one point he needed breathing assistance. Pascal is running for re election in November and there's been no indication that he is reconsidering that you could soon have a free ride on New Jersey transit but only for a limited time. Governor Murphy this week announcing a fair holiday on NJ transit trains, buses and light rail. The free rides will be in effect from August 26th through September 2nd. The governor says it's a way of saying thank you to commuters and to apologize for the recent rash of delays and cancellations. There's no question NJ. A transit delays can be annoying but should you be entitled to be reimbursed for them? Some political leaders think so, Congressman Josh Gottheimer and others met in Glen Rock this week to announce what they call the rail passenger bill of rights. The goal is to reduce delays on NJ transit which the railroad contends are mostly the fault of Amtrak which owns the tracks and other aging infrastructure. One part of the proposed plan requiring Amtrak and NJ transit to offer refunds if a train is canceled or delayed for more than three hours. The legislation will guarantee that passengers receive automatic prompt and full refunds when their trains are canceled or significantly changed by more than three hours. Just like the airlines, the rail passenger bill of rights will apply to Amtrak and ensure that when Amtrak is to blame for New Jersey transit delay, Amtrak will foot the bill for refunds on New Jersey transit. This has been a bad year for New Jersey Transit. There were over 600 ride cancellations in June alone. If you own or rent a home in New Jersey, you could be eligible for hundreds of dollars in tax relief. The anchor property tax program kicks off next week. This is year three. The division of taxation says it will automatically file applications for 1.5 million taxpayers starting Monday. There's also an online application which the division says has been made simpler. The deadline to file is November 30th. But if your information has changed since you got your last Anchor payment, you'll need to file a new application by September 15th. You can find more information on News twelve.com and that'll do it for this week. Thanks once again to my guests among the university polling director, Patrick Murray Ailsa connect of the joyful heart Foundation and Congressman Frank Pallone. Now, thank you for watching. I'm W Kane. Eric Landron will be back next week with more New Jersey, power and politics.

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