The Massachusetts House of Representatives has approved a
proposal offered by House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North
Reading) to overhaul the state’s
policy for tracking and testing rape kits.
Adopted as an amendment
to a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill, Representative Jones’ proposal
calls for the creation of a rape kit tracking system within the Executive Office
of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), which will be used to maintain the
current location and status of all untested kits and will also allow victims of
sexual assault to anonymously track their kits.
The amendment was adopted on a vote of 155-0.
In addition to
requiring rape kits to be kept for 50 years, the amendment also mandates an audit
of all existing untested kits associated with a reported crime to measure the
extent of the current backlog, which is currently unknown. In 2015, EOPSS
requested reports from municipal police departments on the number of untested
rape kits in their possession, but only 75 out of 351 departments responded.
“We don’t even know how many of these rape kits have gone
untested, and that is unacceptable, given how crucial the evidence collected
from these kits can be in helping to convict dangerous criminals and connect
individuals to unsolved crimes,” said Representative Jones. “Each untested kit represents a missed
opportunity to provide a sense of healing to a survivor and increased safety to
a community, but today’s vote is an important step in helping survivors of
sexual assault to achieve justice.”
Representative
Jones’ amendment is modeled after national policy guidelines advocated for by
the Joyful Heart Foundation. Thirty-two
other states have already passed rape kit reform laws, while major cities like
Cleveland, Detroit, and Memphis have taken action to test thousands of
backlogged kits in storage.
In Detroit alone, a
total of 11,341 kits were tested, resulting in 2,616 matches made on the DNA
database and allowing authorities to identify 811 potential serial rapists who
have committed crimes in 40 states and Washington, D.C.
The Massachusetts
Senate recently approved its own criminal justice reform bill, which did not
address the backlog of untested rape kits.
A conference committee will soon be appointed to work out the
differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
