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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

As TN Rape Kits Sit on Shelves, State Comptroller Urges Update

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Monday, February 19, 2018   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – At last count, more than 9,000 rape kits sat on shelves in storage across Tennessee, but that number could be even higher.

The state Comptroller's Office is recommending that lawmakers ask for an update on the status of processing the kits – at the same time that a national campaign is releasing a series of public service announcements to underscore the importance of crime labs catching up on the problem.

Ilse Knecht, policy and advocacy director for the Joyful Heart Foundation, says Tennessee has some work to do.

"They've been testing them, but we don't really know what it looks like right now, and I think there needs to be another, some kind of audit or inventory to see, you know, have people been sending their old kits?” she stresses. “Are they sending their new kits? Are they complying with the law?"

Last year Tennessee legislators introduced a bill to shorten the deadlines for submission of newly collected rape kits, but the bill did not pass.

Currently, according to the Joyful Heart Foundation, Memphis' crime lab has a 32-week turnaround time for testing rape kits, Knoxville's is 10 weeks and Nashville has a 16-week wait.

The PSA released by Joyful Heart is titled "Shelved" and features a rape survivor being transported to a tall shelf in a warehouse, filled with hundreds of other survivors waiting on their kits to be tested.

"The man that raped me was white, about 5'8", probably about 170 pounds, crooked nose, sandy blond hair,” the survivor relates. “All of those details, plus the DNA, is enough evidence for you to catch him, right? Right?"

Knecht says while resolution of rape cases is a need for survivors of assault – processing them is also resulting in the solving of hundreds of other crimes, and the prevention of untold more.

"They commit all kinds of crimes,” she points out. “When you look at the rap sheets, it's domestic violence, it's homicide, it's robbery, burglary, assault.

“These guys are one-man wrecking crews on society. The public should be very concerned that these aren't being tested because it's such a great tool to take really dangerous people off the street."

Actress Mariska Hargitay created the Joyful Heart Foundation after playing a detective on the TV series "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit."

She says the content of the scripts and letters she received from fans of the show prompted her to take action.


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