A New Jersey state senator has written legislation that would require the state to test all rape kits released to law enforcement. State Sen. Joe Cryan (D – Union) says a two-year Kane In Your Corner investigation is what convinced him that legislation was necessary.

The bill would require all kits released to law enforcement to be sent to the New Jersey State Police crime lab within 10 days and analyzed within six months. It’s a step many advocates say is long overdue.

Katie Brennan was at the center of one of New Jersey’s most infamous allegations of sexual assault. As a volunteer on Gov. Phil Murphy’s first election campaign, she accused a section campaign official of raping her. Her accusations prompted legislative hearings and the Murphy campaign agreed to pay a $1 million settlement. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges.

“To this day, the most traumatic parts of my entire experience remain the aspects where folks don't believe me,” says Brennan, who now advocates for rape survivors. “I was a person with relative enormous 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 Brennan says prosecutors repeatedly warned her that DNA evidence would not prove whether the sex was consensual.

But many sex assault survivors in New Jersey don’t even get that far. A Kane In Your Corner investigation found one-third of all rape kits released to law enforcement in New Jersey are never tested. New Jersey is one of just a dozen states where prosecutors are given the discretion to decline to test kits, even when survivors want them tested. Some survivors say that made them feel victimized for a second time.

“I expected once I released it, for it to at least be tested,” says one survivor, who News 12 agreed to identify only as “Jane.”

“It can probably just be in a box sitting somewhere for all I know,” adds Lena Morrison, who says she was sexually assaulted in 2019.

Brennan, and many other advocates, say the solution is simple - test all kits released to law enforcement. “This is fixable,” she says. “Admit that we were wrong and move forward.”

Cryan says his legislation is an effort to do that. “These aren't numbers, these are people,” he says. “They go through this experience and we're not there for the support that they need in the criminal justice system, every step of the way. To me, that's beyond appalling.”

This is not the first time legislation requiring rape kits to be tested has been introduced in New Jersey, but Cryan says in light of the Kane In Your Corner investigation, he expects it to pass this time.

“I think your reporting on this is just outstanding,” Cryan says. “You've highlighted an issue, you've forced it forward, 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."