| 3.23.22

Killing The Backlog of Untested Sexual Assault Evidence (H.R. 354)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 354?

(Updated April 20, 2016)

This bill would offer grant funding to state and local governments for analyzing and auditing untested evidence for sexual assault cases.

Through amendments made to the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000, grant money would be made available to:

Conduct audits of samples of sexual assault evidence in the possession of State and local governments that are awaiting testing.
Ensure that the collection and processing of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases is carried out in an appropriate and timely manner.

The Attorney General would decide which applicants would be awarded.

For each fiscal year through 2018, at least 75% of Debbie Smith Act grant amounts would be required to be awarded for carrying out DNA analyses of samples collected under applicable legal authority, and of samples collected from crime scenes.

State and local governments applying for grants would have to submit a plan for performing the audit, and provide a good-faith estimate of the number of un-analyzed samples. Grant recipients would also have to follow these conditions and requirements:

They must complete the audit within one year, assign a unique numeric or alphanumeric identifier to each sample awaiting testing, and identify any statutory deadlines for prosecuting the related perpetrator.
The chief law enforcement officer of the state or local government would be responsible for compliance with reporting requirements.

Argument in favor

Sexual assaults need to be investigated and tried before the statute of limitation expires to ensure that perpetrators are justly punished. Survivors shouldn’t have to live in fear that their assaulter will go free because of an evidence backlog.

Argument opposed

Eliminating the evidence backlog may become more costly than can be done with the program’s current funding level. This bill should include a mechanism for increasing funding if it becomes necessary, or end that statute of limitation.

Impact

People who have reported a sexual assault and still have not had their evidence tested, State and local law enforcement, FBI, DOJ, and the Attorney General.

Cost of H.R. 354

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable. The New York Times reported that testing sexual assault evidence kits can cost as much as $1,000 each, and there may be as many 400,000 untested kits nationwide. The bill’s sponsor stated in a press release that the legislation will not lead to any new spending, but will ensure better targeting of existing funding.

Additional Info

In Depth:

Congress had previously enacted a law to deal with the backlog of sexual assault evidence in 2004, providing $151 million in annual funding. However, this funding ended up being used for other purposes, leaving state and local governments without the resources they needed to act.

A version of this bill was included in the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act in early 2013, but its implementation is still lagging behind. The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in September 2014, alerting him that the DOJ had missed their deadline to develop the “protocols and practices” for state and local governments auditing sexual assault evidence.

Under H.R. 354, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would be required to develop and publish a description of protocols and practices appropriate for the accurate, timely, and effective collection and processing of DNA evidence. The FBI must also make available technical assistance and training to support states and local governments in adopting and implementing such protocols and practices.

The Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be required to conduct audits of all grants under this Act to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse by grantees. If a grantee has been found to have an unresolved audit finding, they would become ineligible to receive funding through this grant program for two fiscal years. The Attorney General would be prohibited from awarding a grant to any nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.

This bill sunsets the provisions of this Act related to providing Debbie Smith grants for auditing sexual assault evidence backlogs on December 31, 2018.