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The Current State of Rape Kit Reform
In May of 2015, CBS 46 did their own investigation into untested rape kits. They found that in numerous police departments in the Metro Atlanta area, hundreds of untested rape kits were uncovered. One county police department found 159 untested kits that dated back to 1993, while another found 365 untested kits that dated back to the 1970s. One Atlanta hospital reported it had possession of 1,490 untested rape kits in its Rape Crisis Center.
State Bill 304 (SB304), a landmark bill in rape kit reform, was enacted in Georgia in 2016 requiring the GBI to conduct an annual audit of untested rape kits across the state and required law enforcement to submit all untested kits to the GBI.
The Accountability Project placed a public records request to show the number of untested rape kits in Atlanta. In January 2017, as reported by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, that 10,314 rape kits awaited testing at the GBI. Bear in mind, that is - at minimum - 10,314 victims of rape and sexual assault in our state alone that have not even had their kit tested, nonetheless had justice served.
April 2018
April 2018
As reported by The Associated Press, under 2,900 kits remained to be tested. This is a huge success for victims. A new House Bill was introduced in 2018, HB837, which allowed victims the right to notice on rape kit testing status and results. Unfortunately, that bill failed to pass and we are passionate about moving this bill forward.
To be clear, this means that victims of rape were not and are not often afforded the right of being notified when and if their rape kit has been tested and the results of that testing. This is very similar to Marcy's Law (SB127 & SR146), which was passed in GA and effective January 1, 2019. The passage of Marcy's Law was a huge stride for victim's rights in our state and we see HB837 as a crucial addition to that.
We are here to provide advocacy and to push for legislative change starting with raising awareness for these types of bills and how, where, and when you can also advocate for the passing of these bills. Many of the laws in our justice system are there to protect the accused. While we understand the tremendous need to protect citizens from miscarriages of the law - that should be balanced with adequate protections for victims.
2020 Updates
As with all things, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the progress and state of rape kit reform. As reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, the GBI has a back up of over 1,100 cases and state officials say the backlog could reach over 2,000 by the end of the year.
House Bill 720 was introduced that would allow a sexual assault kit tracking system, an amendment to the bill dictating that the term of probation should follow the mandatory term of imprisonment for persons convicted of sexual assault, and a semi-annual rape kit inventory.
We've made huge strides in change over such a short amount of time but Georgia still has a long way to go. We are here to advocate for victims rights, law enforcement and government accountability, and above all else, justice and closure for victims.
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