Millions earmarked to clear backlog of untested rape kits

In November 2014, Vance announced that his office would award up to $35 million to address the nation’s accumulation of untested sexual assault kits, but increased his contribution by several million dollars on Thursday. The money comes from a grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

A total of 43 agencies in 27 states will be getting grant money.

“These funds should not only speak to survivors, assuring them that this state is invested in securing their deserved justice, but to law enforcement agents, who can now begin to solve related crimes”, Laxalt said in a statement.

“I’m hoping that sometime this fall we’re going to start testing these kits and get rolling on this”, Karofsky said.

“We are prepared to have their back, ” said Biden of sexual assaults still waiting for evidence to be tested.

The grant, which can fund testing of up to 3,300 kits, will also help to create a task force to develop a policy to help ensure rape kits won’t go untested in the future, KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a press… While Wayne County has been ending one of the worst backlogs in the country, tens of thousands of untested kits remain sitting in storage in other jurisdictions.

A plan is in place to finally test thousands of rape kits that have been gathering dust.

The Philadelphia police department will get $419,788 to test 600 kits.

And Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said the money is only the begining. The goals of the initiative are to create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to these cases whenever possible through a victim-centered approach, as well as to build jurisdictions’ capacity to prevent conditions that lead to high numbers of untested kits.

“This funding will provide us the financial wherewithal to screen and test these things for DNA and potentially put those in our DNA database”, said Kermit Channell, Executive Director of the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

So far in Memphis, only 40 percent of 12,374 kits have been tested.

Each kit can cost more than $1000 to process.

“Law & Order: SVU” actress Mariska Hargitay, president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, called the announcement a historic moment.