N.C. receives $2 million grant for testing and tracking of sexual assault kits

N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein announced Thursday that the state will receive a $2 million federal grant for testing and tracking sexual assault kits.

At the end of 2017, there were 15,160 untested sexual assault kits in North Carolina.

“Testing sexual assault kits is essential to public safety because it allows us to solve crimes, to bring justice to victims, to punish offenders and to prevent future sexual assaults,” Stein said on Thursday.

Laura Brewer, Stein’s communications director, said that the N.C. Department of Justice applied for a grant in April from the Justice Assistance section of the U.S. Department of Justice bureau in hopes of being able to test more sexual assault kits.

Approximately $1 million of the grant will be used to test 1,400 kits from the backlog. The rest of the grant will be used to ensure that all kits have the new tracking system to train law enforcement to use a victim-based approach in sexual assault cases and to increase searches for matches in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System database, CODIS.

“Testing these older kits will send a powerful message to victims, to advocates, to law enforcement and to perpetrators, North Carolina will do everything we can to bring justice in sexual assault crimes,” Stein said.

This new tracking system for sexual assault kits went into effect on Oct. 1.  Each kit — old and new — will have a unique barcode entered into the tracking system log by a medical provider. This allows defense lawyers, prosecutors, law enforcement and the victims to know the status of their kit at any time throughout the process.

Since the tracking system went into effect, 587 kits have been submitted and 10 of those have found DNA matches.

The system was developed in Idaho and is being used in some form in Arkansas and Montana. Neither the victim's nor the offender's personal information is accessible in the tracking system, protecting it from security breaches.

“What we are hoping is that it will allow for survivors to take a more empowered role in monitoring and pushing forward,” said Rachel Valentine, executive director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.

Valentine said the tracking system will allow victims to be more involved in their case, because many times in the past sexual assault kits have become bogged down in the system.

The system will also open up communication between the victim and law enforcement, she said. This increased communication, with the victim having access to more information, will help officers focus on the victim's well-being when dealing with sexual assault cases.

Valentine said many victims will feel relief about the grant, but some may have lost hope by now because of the kit backlog or because they dropped their cases.

"In some cases, enough time has passed that even if and when their kits get tested, it may not really have any bearing on their case," she said.

At the request of Stein, the N.C. General Assembly formed a committee to study untested kits and find the best protocol for law enforcement to handle these kits. On Dec. 1, the committee will advise on what steps need to be taken.

As the current grant will only test around 10 percent of the kits on the backlog, Stein's office is trying to receive additional funding from the Governor’s Crime Commission.

He said the General Assembly and the public must take action if all kits are to be tested.

Valentine said the grant is exciting, but a lot of time and effort will need to be put into making sure the backlog is adequately addressed.

"As that grant money runs out, it’s going to take continued vigilance and advocacy from our local and state level partners," she said.

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