Bill aims to strengthen response to rape

Nadler said his bill would reduce the backlog in unanalyzed rape DNA kits and help identify and prosecute perpetrators of rape across the nation.

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"As experts on rape forensics have long known, DNA evidence is often critical in establishing guilt and bringing convictions in rape cases," he said.

Typically, victims of rape and sexual assault suffer from an endemic lack of proper respect by medical and law enforcement personnel, beginning when victims are first treated in hospital emergency rooms.  The lack of concern, the failure to be treated in a timely manner, and the absence of basic information often make women who have just been sexually assaulted or raped feel victimized all over again, Nadler said.

He explained that there are trained personnel, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, or SANE, nurses, who know how to treat rape victims and obtain evidence in these cases.

"But not all injured women receive such care," Nadler said, adding that prosecutors often fail to use the evidence collected in so-called "rape kits" and, therefore, often fail to find and punish the assailant.

"Even when a rape kit is sent to a lab to be tested, there can be long delays before its DNA evidence is examined, analyzed, and compared to other DNA profiles.  Such untested evidence represents opportunities lost to provide justice for victims and catch dangerous criminals," Nadler said.

The Justice for Rape Victims and Improving Use of DNA Evidence Act of 2010 would provide to states and localities an extra ten percent of federal funding under the Justice Assistant Grant Program, if the jurisdiction:

• establishes a process by which each victim of sexual assault or rape has access to a SANE nurse;
• establishes a process by which each victim of sexual assault or rape can have their rape kit tested within 180 days; and,
• creates an online database showing its rape kits and the status of their testing, in order to help keep track of and make sure rape kits are tested.

This bill also would require the Department of Justice to analyze and produce an annual report for Congress on the state of the rape kit DNA backlog, as well as the backlog in the testing of DNA evidence more generally.

Nadler's colleague, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, introduced a bill in August which also seeks to tackle the "rape kit" backlog.  The SAFER Act -- for Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry -- which was co-sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, would help end the backlog of untested DNA evidence by providing crucial data on the number of unsolved rapes cases awaiting testing and establishing better standards for the tracking, storage and use of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases. The SAFER Act would also allow rape victims to track forensic evidence in their own case online, anytime.

The bill is currently in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.

A Nadler spokesperson said the Congressman was anxious to work with Maloney in addressing the issue.

"He and Rep. Maloney both share a concern about the rape kit backlog and have each worked on the issue for a long time," Ilan Kayatsky said.  "While they have the same goal, they have taken somewhat different approaches with these most recent bills.  We look forward to working with her on this issue."

Maloney is the author of the Debbie Smith Act, passed by Congress in 2004 and renewed in 2008, and widely considered the strongest anti-rape legislation The law funds the processing of DNA evidence from crime scenes, and in particular from rape scenes.