    [Senate Hearing 114-902]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 114-902

                        TAKING SEXUAL ASSAULT SERIOUSLY:
                     THE RAPE KIT BACKLOG AND HUMAN RIGHTS

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                        SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION

                                     OF THE

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                  MAY 20, 2015

                                   __________

                               Serial No. J-114-19

                                   __________

             Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                            www.judiciary.senate.gov
                                www.govinfo.gov

                                    __________

                       U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    52-978                     WASHINGTON : 2025

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                      CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa, Chairman
    ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah                 PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Ranking
    JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama                   Member
    LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina    DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
    JOHN CORNYN, Texas                   CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York
    MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah                 RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
    TED CRUZ, Texas                      SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
    JEFF FLAKE, Arizona                  AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
    DAVID VITTER, Louisiana              AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
    DAVID PERDUE, Georgia                CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
    THOM TILLIS, North Carolina          RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut

                Kolan L. Davis, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
          Kristine Lucius, Democratic Chief Counsel and Staff Director

                        SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION

                          JOHN CORNYN, Texas, Chairman
    THOM TILLIS, North Carolina          RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois,
    LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina           Ranking Member
    TED CRUZ, Texas                      SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
    DAVID VITTER, Louisiana              CHRISTOPHER COONS, Delaware
                                         AL FRANKEN, Minnesota

                     Noah Phillips, Majority Staff Director
                     Joseph Zogby, Minority Staff Director

                               C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                       Page

    Cornyn, Hon. John................................................     1
    Durbin, Hon. Richard J...........................................     3
        Prepared statement...........................................    34
    Grassley, Hon. Charles E.........................................     4
        Prepared statement...........................................    36
    Leahy, Hon. Patrick J............................................     5
        Prepared statement...........................................    37

                                   WITNESSES

    Berkowitz, Scott.................................................    12
        Prepared statement...........................................    44
    Byrd, Sarah Haacke...............................................    15
        Prepared statement...........................................    68
    Hearn, Skylor....................................................    10
        Prepared statement...........................................    53
    Madigan, Lisa....................................................    14
        Prepared statement...........................................    60
    Smith, Debbie....................................................     8
        Prepared statement...........................................    39

                                    APPENDIX

    Items submitted for the record...................................    33

                        TAKING SEXUAL ASSAULT SERIOUSLY:
                            THE RAPE KIT BACKLOG AND
                                  HUMAN RIGHTS

                                  ----------

                            WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015

                                  United States Senate,
                              Subcommittee on the Constitution,
                                    Committee on the Judiciary,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m.,
    Room 226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Cornyn,
    Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
        Present: Senators Cornyn [presiding], Tillis, Cruz, Durbin,
    Whitehouse, and Franken.
        Also present: Chairman Grassley, Senators Leahy, Klobuchar,
    and Blumenthal.

                 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN CORNYN,

                 A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS

        Chairman Cornyn. Good afternoon. This hearing of the
    Constitution Subcommittee will come to order.
        I want to begin by thanking our excellent panel of
    witnesses for agreeing to be here today to share your concerns,
    your experiences with this problem that does not get enough
    attention, this rape kit backlog.
        We look forward to hearing from you about the great work
    you are doing and, of course, first and foremost, giving a
    voice to those who need it the most.
        The rape kit backlog is a national tragedy with serious
    consequences for sexual assault survivors. By some estimates,
    there are as many as 400,000 untested rape kits in America,
    each one of them holding tremendous potential to help solve a
    crime, take a serial rapist off the streets, or perhaps
    exonerate somebody who has been falsely accused of a crime.
        A rape kit is the forensic DNA evidence, of course,
    collected from the body of the sexual assault victim following
    a crime. These kits can include everything from swabs, bodily
    fluids, hair, bed sheets, clothing and other personal items.
        These are, of course, by their nature, invasive tests, the
    person who also--and they also are part of what a victim of
    crime has to endure after experiencing one of the most horrific
    experiences in their life.
        After a rape kit is collected, law enforcement agencies can
    forward this evidence to a crime lab for testing, but,
    unfortunately, we know many do not. The DNA from that kit may
    be used by lab officials and law enforcement to search the
    FBI's nationwide data base of criminal offender DNA, known as
    CODIS.
        Since so many sexual assailants are serial offenders, there
    are very high CODIS hit rates in sexual assault cases. In other
    words, the DNA from a rape kit is often the material difference
    between a sexual predator going to jail or remaining free to
    reoffend.
        When rape kits remain untested and sitting on the shelf,
    the consequences can be nothing short of devastating.
        I know each of you have stories you could tell,
    particularly Debbie Smith, but I met a woman from Dallas, Texas
    by the name of Carol Bart. In 1984, Ms. Bart was sexually
    assaulted at knife-point outside her Dallas apartment. After
    she was attacked, she consented to a rape kit examination, but
    her rape kit sat untested for 24 years on the shelf.
        When it was finally tested against the FBI data base, it
    yielded a match to a serial offender who had sexually assaulted
    another woman only 4 months after he had attacked Ms. Bart.
        Even more tragic, by the time Ms. Bart's rape kit was
    cleared from the backlog, the statute of limitations had run on
    her case, meaning, of course, her attacker could not be
    criminally convicted of the crime against her.
        We know, unfortunately, that there are many other examples
    of this across the Nation.
        Another brave Texan I met during the course of my work in
    this area is Lavinia Masters. She was 13 years old when she was
    sexually assaulted. Of course, you can imagine a 13-year-old,
    asleep in her bed and then to be sexually assaulted. It is hard
    to imagine something more horrific than that.
        When she, too, reported her crime and consented to a rape
    kit examination, she hoped it would help find the monster who
    robbed her of her childhood, but instead her rape kit sat
    untested for 20 years. When it was finally tested, it revealed
    that a recidivist criminal had committed this terrible offense.
    In other words, this was not the first time nor would it have
    been the last time if he was not taken off the street.
        Because her rape kit sat untested for so long, the statute
    of limitations has run, as well. Once again, the rape kit
    backlog meant that another victim had been denied justice.
        Carol, Lavinia, brave people like Debbie Smith represent
    only a few of the countless victims of the rape kit backlog
    story and that is too many. Each and every untested rape kit
    represents a real victim and their struggle for justice, and I
    believe it is our responsibility to honor the bravery of these
    survivors and to tell them that we are going to do everything
    we can for our part to stand up for them and we will do
    everything in our power to track down the people who have
    assaulted them.
        Fortunately, and this is beginning to be a little bit of a
    good news story, legislators at the State level, victims, law
    enforcement officials and lab professionals around the country
    are working together, slowly but surely, to end this rape kit
    backlog.
        I am proud to say that Texas is leading the charge. In
    2011, Texas joined Ranking Member Durbin's home State as one of
    the first States in the Nation to enact a law requiring a
    comprehensive audit of the rape kit backlog and the mandatory
    testing of all sexual assault evidence. I know we will hear
    more from the attorney general about that.
        Just last year, the city of Houston finished clearing its
    rape kit backlog of 6,600 kits, and so far, just out of the
    6,600 kits tested, they have come up with nearly 1,000 CODIS
    hits on these untested rape kits. Awareness of this effort has
    grown and so has the movement to end the rape kit backlog
    forever.
        In 2011, Texas and Illinois were only two States with rape
    kit backlog laws on the books. Four years later, we now have
    some form of these laws on the books of at least 12 States.
    That is real progress.
        I am proud to say that Congress is continuing to take an
    aggressive and bipartisan approach in the fight against this
    backlog. In 2014, I was proud to work with Senators McConnell,
    Leahy and Grassley to reauthorize the landmark Debbie Smith Act
    through 2019. This legislation has been the law of the land for
    more than a decade and it is a true success, touching the lives
    of thousands of sexual assault victims by providing much needed
    resources to test the rape kit backlog.
        In 2013, I was proud to join Representative Ted Poe and
    Senator Bennet in sponsoring legislation known as the Sexual
    Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting Act, or the SAFER Act. This
    legislation was signed into law in the last Congress, and it
    strengthens the Debbie Smith Act by directing more funds to
    test crime scene DNA and increases law enforcement--gives them
    new resources to audit and to inventory the rape kit backlog.
        It is hard to know how big the problem is unless we
    actually do those audits, and that is a very important part of
    this process.
        While we need to continue to make sure that these important
    programs are fully implemented, I look forward to hearing the
    ideas of our witnesses and Subcommittee Members on what
    Congress can do to continue this fight.
        With that, I turn the floor over to Senator Durbin, the
    Ranking Member.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD J. DURBIN,

               A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

        Senator Durbin. Thanks very much, Chairman Cornyn. Thanks
    for this bipartisan meeting. I will ask that my full statement
    be made a part of the record and try to summarize it quickly so
    we can get to our important panel.
        When you see a report from the CDC, they estimate about 1
    out of every 5 women in America is going to be raped during the
    course of their life, and then the National Crime Victimization
    Survey tells us that between 2006 and 2010, 65 percent of rapes
    and sexual assaults went unreported.
        When a victim does report, has the courage after a sexual
    assault to step forward and to report what happened to the
    authorities, we have to do everything in our power to make
    certain that the person responsible is held accountable.
        Instead, thousands of victims have faced inexcusable
    ongoing trauma as their rape kits went untested and their
    rapist got away with the crime.
        We recently had a column Nicholas Kristof wrote where he
    interviewed the sheriff of Cook County, Tom Dart, a personal
    friend of mine and the attorney general's. Tom went into a
    small community south of Chicago, Robbins, Illinois, and he
    found a locker filled with rape kits. They pulled out one of
    the kits and had it tested. It was about a young woman in the
    community. It had been collected. She was 14 years old when the
    rape occurred, and it was years ago when it happened. Nothing
    had been done.
        After testing the kit, they found a DNA match, but the
    statute of limitations had expired. Natasha's attacker could
    not be prosecuted. How terrible could that be?
        It is an indication of what may be happening in many parts
    of the country. I am happy that the Chairman and I can point to
    our home States and the efforts that have been made to try to
    make sure that we reduce the likelihood of that happening.
        Attorney General Madigan, who will testify, has been a
    leader in that effort, and she will say a few words about it
    when she is given her chance to testify.
        We also have to make sure that beyond the testing of rape
    kits, as important as that is, that we consider the sexual
    assault epidemic facing our country. We need to focus on
    preventing rape from occurring in the first place. We need to
    provide law enforcement agencies with access to training on how
    to respond to the traumatized victims.
        As tested kits reveal suspects, we need to provide
    investigators and prosecutors with the resources they need to
    pursue the case, and we need to ensure that crisis centers and
    victim assistance organizations have the resources to help
    survivors.
        Congress is doing, I think, an important thing in
    appropriating $41 million last year to address the rape kit
    backlog and develop a comprehensive approach to sexual assault
    cases.
        The House Commerce's Justice and Science Appropriations
    Subcommittee included a continuation of this vital funding in
    the FY 2016 bill. It is important that we give the resources to
    these agencies of Government that are investigating and
    prosecuting.
        We also have to make sure that we reorder our priorities
    when it comes to the way we spend money on fighting crime and
    we are addressing that with some other bills that are before
    this Committee.
        Two of the members of this panel I invited and I will be
    happy to introduce at the appropriate time. Let me turn it back
    over to the Chairman.
        Chairman Cornyn. We are happy to have the Chairman of the
    Full Committee and the Ranking Member of the Full Committee
    here with us. Senator Grassley.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY,

                 A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF IOWA

        Chairman Grassley. I would like to show my support and give
    a short statement, because I want to help you and Senator
    Durbin in any way I can.
        Today the Judiciary Committee will hear from several
    witnesses about untested DNA evidence from sexual assault
    forensic exams. We will consider whether backlogs of untested
    DNA evidence remain a problem despite the enactment of the 2004
    Debbie Smith Act.
        The Debbie Smith Act, which is named after our first
    witness, originally passed Congress, with my support, as part
    of the 2004 Justice for All Act. Congress last reauthorized
    this important Federal statute in 2014. It sends funds to
    States to help reduce backlogs of untested DNA evidence from
    crime scenes and from convicted offenders.
        Reducing such backlogs of untested DNA evidence is
    critically important to survivors of sexual violence, as our
    witnesses will testify today.
        We are pleased to have Debbie here. I am going to skip over
    a description of the crime against her because it is pretty
    much repetitive of what you said, but it does not mean that I
    pay any less attention to it.
        This program has helped crime labs around the Nation
    promptly analyze DNA evidence like that which was key to
    identifying Debbie Smith's rapist. In this same period,
    however, the demand for DNA testing has increased, as well,
    because jurisdictions around the country have increased their
    reliance upon forensic evidence as a crime-solving tool.
        Because DNA evidence is now and likely will continue to be
    such an important tool in identifying perpetrators of rape and
    other crimes, it is crucial that the evidence be examined
    timely. Collecting and analyzing such evidence is important to
    catch offenders before they strike again.
        It is completely unacceptable for forensic evidence from
    crimes of sexual violence to sit untested for months or even
    longer while rapists remain at large and statutes of
    limitations are expiring.
        Over the last decade, Members of this Committee have played
    a very important role in ensuring that the Debbie Smith Act is
    reauthorized and the DNA backlog reduction program is funded.
    This year, I joined Senator Cornyn and 28 colleagues in calling
    on Senate Appropriation leaders to again make this program a
    priority.
        I thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Durbin for their
    leadership and, most importantly, in organizing this hearing
    because this is a very important step to make sure we keep this
    whole issue before the Congress.
        Thank you.
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you, Senator Grassley. Senator
    Leahy.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY,

                A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT

        Senator Leahy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        This, as you know, is something--an issue that is very
    close to me and one I have spent years working on.
        When discussing this with Debbie Smith and her husband,
    Rob, we talked about the fact that survivors of sexual assault
    for too long have been ignored. They have been ignored or they
    have been disbelieved, and the vast majority of them, of
    course, are women.
        When we let these rape kits languish on lab shelves, it
    reinforces the terrible message that somehow these are second
    class crimes. Each one of these kits represents a devastating,
    traumatized survivor. We have got to move quickly on them. I
    remember seeing her almost in tears the first time we talked,
    Debbie, and you talked to me about how it was 7 years before
    your kit was tested and the perpetrator was caught--7 years.
        As I told you earlier today, my wife sent a second hug to
    you because of how moved she has been talking with you and Rob.
    When we first tried--worked to get the Debbie Smith Act passed
    as part of the Justice for All Act in 2004, I remember Debbie
    going from office to office with another good friend of ours,
    Kirk Bloodsworth. I sat there in the corner a couple of times,
    you will recall, just listening to your stories. He was the
    first person to be exonerated from death row by DNA, the first
    person. It was the personal appeal, it was not the numbers or
    the statistics; it is when Senators of both parties sat there
    and listened to them and realized we have got to do something.
        We all hoped that your work would be over after getting
    that and we realize it continues on. I remember September last
    year, when I went to the Senate floor and asked unanimous
    consent to reauthorize this important legislation. President
    Obama signed the law a few days later. I know that commitments
    I have with Senator Cornyn, we are going to reauthorize the
    other important programs in the Justice for Act. I want to
    publicly--I do not want to hurt him back in Texas, but I want
    to publicly thank Senator Cornyn, Senator Grassley and others
    for working on this. When we drafted the Leahy-Crapo Violence
    Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, we dramatically
    changed what was in the original Violence Against Women Act,
    and we increased specific dedicated funding to sexual assault
    response, including greater attention to collecting and
    processing rape kits.
        It is not going to be easy, but a lot of it requires the
    commitments not only in Texas and others in their States. My
    home State of Vermont has committed professionals of Vermont
    Forensic Laboratories, the Vermont Network Against Domestic and
    Sexual Violence. It is also going to require money.
        We all say we are in favor of this, but we have got to have
    specific laws. We have got to make sure it is done and start
    accepting the fact that when these things happen, let us go out
    and get the person.
        I was a prosecutor, I know what that means. We should not
    have the case that Senator Durbin talked about where, oh, we
    finally get around to this; oh, gosh, too bad, the statute of
    limitations has run. Imagine if that had been done right at the
    time it should have been. That rapist would have gone to jail.
        I wonder how many other people were victims in between?
        I will put my full statement in the record, Mr. Chairman. I
    have already told Debbie and Rob that, like so many others, I
    am double-booked somewhere else, but I think she knows my
    commitment to this.
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you, Senator Leahy.
        We will now proceed to hear from our witnesses. I feel like
    the first one, Debbie Smith, has already been introduced, but
    let me just say that she is one of the foremost champions that
    we have involving this issue in the country. Thank you for
    being here.
        Debbie is the founder of an organization known as Hope
    Exists After Rape Trauma, or HEART. Of course, her achievements
    are too long to list here, but I look forward to hearing more
    about her update on the work she is doing around the country
    and any other light she can help us shed on this continuing
    issue.
        Next, our second witness is Mr. Skylor Hearn, a former
    Texas Ranger, and, as we say in Texas, one riot, one ranger. He
    currently serves as the assistant director of the Texas
    Department of Public Safety and in that capacity, he is
    overseeing the implementation of the Texas rape kit backlog
    law.
        I am proud of the great work he and other folks are doing
    there at the Department of Public Safety, and we are glad you
    are here today.
        Our third witness is well known here on the Hill, Scott
    Berkowitz, who we have worked with for a long time on these
    issues. He is the founder and president of Rape, Abuse and
    Incest National Network, or RAINN. RAINN is the Nation's
    largest anti-sexual assault advocacy group and operates the
    National Sexual Assault Hotline. In his role as president of
    RAINN, Mr. Berkowitz has played an instrumental role in
    advocating for victims and fighting for legislation to take
    criminals off the street: the Debbie Smith Act, the DNA
    Fingerprint Act, and the SAFER Act.
        I look forward to hearing more about Mr. Berkowitz's work
    and RAINN's priorities.
        With that, let me ask Senator Durbin to do the honors of
    introducing our next witness.
        Senator Durbin. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. The next witness is
    Attorney General Lisa Madigan from my State of Illinois. She is
    a good friend and she was just elected to her fourth term. She
    is the longest-serving woman attorney currently serving in the
    United States.
        She has done a lot of great work over the years, but
    particularly when it comes to this subject. Her work on the
    Illinois Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act in 2010 was the
    first of its kind in our Nation. She currently co-chairs the
    statewide Sexual Assault Working Group in my State.
        Before being elected as attorney general, she served in the
    Illinois Senate, along with a former U.S. Senator from
    Illinois, Barack Obama, and worked as a litigator for a Chicago
    law firm.
        Attorney General Madigan is a graduate of the highly
    regarded Georgetown University and the Loyola University
    Chicago School of Law.
        Attorney General Madigan previously testified before this
    Committee on the student debt crisis. I am glad she is with us.
        Our final witness is Sarah Haacke Byrd, the management
    director of the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization
    seeking to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual
    assault, domestic violence and child abuse.
        Before joining Joyful Heart, she was the director of
    operations for the Bellevue/New York University Program for
    Survivors of Torture. Sarah is a graduate of the University of
    Minnesota-Twin Cities and the Case Western Reserve University
    Weatherhead School of Management.
        We thank her, as well.
        Chairman Cornyn. If I can ask each of the witnesses,
    please, to stand.
        [Witnesses are sworn in.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you. Please have a seat.
        Debbie, would you care to make an opening statement?

               STATEMENT OF DEBBIE SMITH, SEXUAL ASSAULT

              SURVIVOR, FOUNDER OF HOPE EXISTS AFTER RAPE

                 TRAUMA (HEART), WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

        Ms. Smith. I want to say it is an absolute privilege to be
    here today and I appreciate, Senator Cornyn, you asking and
    giving me that privilege.
        Before I begin, I would like to be allowed the opportunity
    to publicly thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Leahy for being
    such huge supporters of changing the issues that surround
    victims of sexual assault.
        Your commitments to these issues speak of your devotion to
    victims of crime and their families. Especially, your staff
    members have always made themselves available to me at any time
    I had what may seem to them to be silly or unusual questions,
    but they were always there and ready and willing to help me
    out.
        I thank both of you for all of your help.
        Lifetime Television once described me as an advocate by
    accident and it is a true statement because I can tell you that
    I would have never purposely taken this place. Before I got
    here, there were already those, like NCBC, who were working
    diligently to pave the road for others.
        I am always humbled to sit at the table with Scott
    Berkowitz from RAINN, another one of those who purposely chose
    to find a way to make the path easier for sexual assault
    victims.
        Around this wonderful country of ours, there are many more,
    too numerous to name, who fight the war on sexual assault on
    behalf of sexual assault victims and I am in awe of their
    commitment.
        As the years have passed, we continue to have others join
    us, such as Joyful Heart, to join this continuing battle. As a
    victim of this horrific crime, I am overwhelmed by the
    dedication of these professionals.
        My personal experience as a rape victim provides me with
    the understanding of the devastation of this crime, and I
    believe that with devastation comes knowledge, and with
    knowledge comes responsibility. This vivid understanding of
    knowledge and responsibility has changed my life forever.
        I truly believed that March 3, 1989 would be the last day
    that I would feel the loving touch of my husband's embrace or
    hear the precious voices of my children say, ``I love you,
    Mom.'' It was on that Friday afternoon that a stranger entered
    my home, threatening to kill me if I screamed. He then
    abducted, blindfolded, and led me to the woods behind my home,
    where he robbed and repeatedly raped me.
        This day was the day that I was raped, and it also became
    the day that this particular basket came into my life. This is
    Basket Number 6, and it has never held anything of any real
    value, nothing of any monetary value or worth. It used to hold
    a pair of Reebok tennis shoes. No big deal, except for they
    were my very first pair of name brand tennis shoes because it
    just seemed there was not enough money after buying shoes for
    the children.
        There was an Aigner purse and a matching wallet emptied of
    all of its cash; again, nothing of much monetary value, worth
    more than the shoes combined, but they still did not carry an
    enormous price tag, except for the fact they were a Christmas
    gift from my husband. He worked overtime so that he could
    afford to buy me the matching set.
        Basket Number 6 also held a pair of no name jeans, not any
    great expense there, except for they were my very favorites,
    because, you see, and every woman in here can understand, they
    fit just perfect in the waist and the hips both at the same
    time.
        There was also a sealed envelope containing pubic hairs,
    vials containing a cotton swab, and a pair of semen-stained
    underwear, definitely nothing of value. All of these things
    were stored in this ordinary wire basket. None of these
    ordinary items were of any real value unless, of course, they
    happened to belong to you.
        After being raped, I struggled with trying to live with the
    memories of that day. For 6\1/2\ years, the smell of this man's
    breath, the touch of his cool, damp coat sleeve around my neck,
    and the sight of his black rubber boots were all stored in my
    memory, and the sound of his voice in my ears reminding me,
    ``Remember, I know where you live and I will come back to kill
    you if you tell anyone.''
        All of these things were stored in my mind, unwilling to be
    discarded. I needed peace, security, and I desperately wanted
    to feel safe again. I had no hope that I would ever attain this
    vital relief. I thought I had found a fate worse than death,
    and it was living, and it was living with the fear that this
    man would fulfill his promise to return and to kill me or,
    maybe worse, he would kill my children.
        I merely existed for those 6\1/2\ years, as fear held my
    heart and my soul within its grip, choking out any joy of life.
    I became suicidal, seeking peace and rest from the pictures
    that played in my mind without warning.
        Basket Number 6 has always been filled with what seemed
    like insignificant items, but it was this very Basket Number 6
    that stored my rape evidence kit that would deliver peace to my
    heart and allow me to truly live again. It held fragments of my
    life that was lived. It held answers to my questions, solutions
    to my fears, and peace for my very soul.
        All of those resolutions were confined--were confined to
    this ordinary 11-inch-by-12-inch ordinary wire basket, sealed
    with red evidence tape.
        On July 26, 1995, we received the news that DNA cold hit
    had revealed the name of my rapist. He was already in prison
    for another crime. The torment was finally over, and I knew
    where he was. My family was safe. Basket Number 6 was finally
    allowed to speak.
        Basket Number 6 now sits alone on my bookshelf in my home
    and it still holds nothing of any great monetary value, but in
    my heart, it holds the memory of a day that had gone terribly
    bad, a day that I thought that I would never recover.
        Before it was brought to my home, Basket Number 6 sat
    behind a locked door lined up with many others just like it, on
    a shelf in a darkened room, doing exactly what it was fashioned
    to do. Basket Number 6 has long been emptied of its original
    contents and now sits on that shelf as a permanent reminder to
    me of the hundreds of thousands of other baskets, boxes and
    bags that still have pieces of someone's lives in them.
        It is for them that I am here today and it is for them that
    I will continue to do all I can to get these kits off of the
    shelves of police evidence rooms and in the labs. It is for the
    victims represented by the letters and news articles in three
    different boxes that I have that I keep fighting for their
    right to justice.
        Because someone cared, these ordinary items stored in an
    ordinary wire Basket Number 6 brought life to truth and that
    truth finally rendered justice.
        Because someone continues to report to work, Basket Number
    6 has been emptied. A rapist has been identified. Justice has
    been rendered and future victims have been spared.
        A survivor has found new joy, a family and husband
    restored, and a community reunited. Every victim represented by
    those baskets, boxes and bags with viable evidence deserves to
    have a voice.
        The day they allow that evidence to be taken from their
    bodies, they did everything that we have asked them to do. They
    endured a 4 to 6 hour intrusive, humiliating exam that they may
    have an opportunity for justice.
        It is their right. We owe them that opportunity, and it is
    just simply the right thing to do.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Smith appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you for that powerful statement,
    Debbie.
        Mr. Hearn.

             STATEMENT OF SKYLOR HEARN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,

            TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, AUSTIN, TEXAS

        Mr. Hearn. Chairman Cornyn, Ranking Member Durbin, other
    honorable Members of the Senate Subcommittee, my name is Skylor
    Hearn, and I serve as an assistant director with the Texas
    Department of Public Safety. It is an honor to appear before
    the Subcommittee today and participate in the dialog on this
    critical issue of untested rape kits in the United States.
        My purpose today is to detail the achievements and progress
    underway in the State of Texas to address this issue and
    identify the successes, lessons learned, and remaining steps in
    our effort. My full written testimony has been provided.
        As a summary, this national issue relative to the thousands
    of untested sexual assault kits across the country has focused
    great attention on the rights of victims, criminal justice
    practices, law enforcement efficiency, and the crushing demand
    on forensic science laboratories.
        The State of Texas has been proactive in identifying and
    seeking resolutions through State legislative action. Texas
    Governor Greg Abbott, both now and as Texas attorney general,
    is a leading force and champion in this effort. What we have
    determined in Texas, which likely mirrors other parts of the
    Nation, is that several causative factors contribute to these
    sexual assault kits not being tested. Some of these factors
    include discretionary investigative or prosecutorial decisions
    where suspect identity is not an issue; prosecutorial non-
    acceptance due to suspect, victim or witness credibility
    issues; and, victim reluctance to formally pursue criminal
    charges.
        The predatory aspect of those who perpetrate sexual assault
    requires greater scrutiny to effectively address the impact of
    human rights posed by these criminals and their acts. The
    shifting nature of the Nation's population and the transitory
    nature of some sexual predators have resulted in the need to
    view these crimes in a different light.
        There are many scenarios where sexual serial offenders
    could escape detection by targeting a specific class of victim
    or by committing crimes across multiple jurisdictions. What
    could be viewed as an isolated date rape incident in one
    jurisdiction may be the work of a serial date rapist with
    similar allegations in other cities and in other States.
        This is the dynamic landscape of sexual assault
    investigations we face today.
        The formal effort to address these issues in Texas began
    with legislative action through the State's 82d legislative
    session in 2011. The enabling legislation, Senate bill 1636,
    addressed several important areas surrounding the issues of
    untested rape kits, including establishing an end to
    discretionary testing for criminal investigations; defining
    active cases based on the existing statue of limitations,
    regardless of whether the case is investigative or judicial
    status; and, requiring every law enforcement agency and
    forensic laboratory in the State to audit and report the total
    number of applicable untested rape kits in its possession to
    DPS.
        The legislation required DPS to provide a report on the
    total number of estimated untested kits. As a result of law
    enforcement reporting at the time, Texas identified over 15,000
    applicable untested rape kits statewide.
        As of reporting this month, the number of reported untested
    kits has climbed to more than 20,000.
        In 2013, the 83d Texas Legislature appropriated funding to
    DPS to coordinated and outsource the testing of the statewide
    untested rape kits in this initiative. This process is fully
    underway and we expect to complete the testing portion of this
    initiative on every applicable kit in the State by November
    2016.
        While the issue of previously untested rape kits is being
    identified and resolved, the future of forensic evidence
    testing must still be championed. Mandatory submission and
    testing of sexual assault kits impacts forensic services.
    Laboratories will continue to need additional funding for
    personnel, resources and instrumentation to meet the ever
    increasing demands of forensic case work.
        While beneficial in some areas, rapid DNA will offer little
    or no benefit in expediting the analysis of crime scene
    evidence.
        Finally, while the efficiencies of this initiative can be
    argued, the forensic results are unequivocal. Forensic DNA
    evidence from untested rape kits is linking known offenders to
    reported crimes. Forensic DNA evidence from untested kits is
    linking previously unassociated cases together and identifying
    serial offenders.
        From a victims' rights and human rights perspective, this
    initiative could be an extraordinary impact in providing a
    measure of justice to current victims and in the prevention of
    future crimes and victimization.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Hearn appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you, Mr. Hearn. Mr. Berkowitz.

               STATEMENT OF SCOTT BERKOWITZ, FOUNDER AND

               PRESIDENT, RAPE, ABUSE AND INCEST NATIONAL

                    NETWORK (RAINN), WASHINGTON, DC

        Mr. Berkowitz. Thank you, Chairman Cornyn, Ranking Member
    Durbin and Members of the Subcommittee, for convening today's
    hearing on the rape kit backlog.
        We believe that one of the greatest threats to public
    safety is the fact that most rapists are never apprehended or
    punished, leaving them free to commit more crimes with
    impunity, and we believe that the rape kit backlog plays a big
    role in this State of affairs, while also denying justice to
    many survivors.
        According to the Justice Department, this crime is both
    pervasive, about every 2 minutes, another American is sexually
    assaulted, and underreported. About two-thirds of rapes are
    never reported to law enforcement. To make matters worse,
    rapists are often serial criminals, assaulting many victims
    over many years.
        Forensic DNA is one of the best crime-fighting tools we
    have. It enables law enforcement to focus in on a suspect. It
    also identifies serial criminals, supports successful
    prosecutions, and helps exonerate the innocent.
        It helps bring justice to victims and helps take rapists
    off the streets, making our communities safer and preventing
    future assaults.
        That is why the backlog of untested DNA evidence from
    unsolved rape cases, the rape kit backlog, has been such a
    priority for RAINN for so many years.
        As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, to the untrained eye, a
    rape kit is not much more than a cardboard box or a very large
    envelope with swabs and vials and packets to hold everything
    from blood and bodily fluids to hair and fingernail clippings;
    basically, whatever forensic evidence a rapist leaves behind.
        Each kit is actually the result of a victim who sat through
    an hours' long examination, often just moments after the
    assault. The victim's body, now a crime scene, is examined in
    minute detail. It is a sacrifice many victims are willing to
    make to achieve justice, but when we do nothing with the
    resulting evidence, we do them a great injustice.
        In theory, once the exam is done and the report made, law
    enforcement sends that box to a DNA lab for testing. That is
    where the system often breaks down. When we speak of the
    backlog these days, we are primarily talking about these cases
    that are hidden from view, the rape kits, hundreds of thousands
    by some estimates, that are stacked up, usually in law
    enforcement warehouses, and have never been sent to the lab for
    testing.
        There is a little good news here. Through your leadership,
    Chairman Cornyn, as you mentioned earlier, Congress last year
    reauthorized the Nation's first and largest anti-backlog
    initiative, the Debbie Smith Act, named for the courageous and
    most tireless woman I know and dear friend, Debbie.
        Congress has also funded a new initiative by the Bureau of
    Justice Assistance to test more kits and help communities with
    the downstream impact of testing, and the Manhattan district
    attorney has announced that he is devoting funds to testing
    nationally.
        There has also been a lot of recent State activity, as was
    mentioned. Illinois and Texas are pioneers, leading the way on
    audits and testing. Together with our partners in the Rape Kit
    Action Project, we are encouraging other States to step up to
    count their kits and eliminate their backlogs.
        Last year, 5 new States enacted such laws and this year
    there are another 40 bills pending in 20 States.
        The work is far from done and there are a number of steps
    Congress can take to help. First, we need to ensure that
    existing programs are implemented to the letter of the law and
    in keeping with congressional intent.
        For several years now, the Debbie Smith program, authorized
    at $151 million per year, has been funded at just $117 million
    per year. Still, that adds up to a lot of money. Over the last
    10 years, through FY 2014, almost $1.25 billion has been
    appropriated for DNA. Yet, in that time, only 51 percent of the
    money went for backlog capacity and testing purposes, even
    though that is, I believe, what Congress intended that it go
    toward.
        Congress, in passing the SAFER Act 2 years ago, instructed
    that at least 75 percent of spending go toward testing cases
    and making sure that labs have the capacity to meet demand.
    Looking back at the last 10 years, if we had spent 75 percent
    of these funds over the last decade instead of the 51 percent
    we actually spent, that would have meant an extra $296 million
    to put toward the backlog, which is enough to test almost
    300,000 rape kits.
        That might not have solved the entire problem, but we would
    have come awfully close, and all that would have been without a
    dollar of new Federal spending.
        The SAFER Act also requires that at least 5 percent of
    funds go to help law enforcement conduct audits of rape kits,
    and it required that these audits be made public online. So
    far, not a dollar has been made available for this purpose
    under SAFER.
        I urge the Members of this Committee, as well as
    appropriators, to help fix that problem going forward.
        SAFER also required the development of national protocols,
    guidance that would be very helpful to the cities and States
    now grappling with this issue. The guidelines were due more
    than 6 months ago, but they have not yet been released.
        The need is urgent. We need a public accounting
    jurisdiction by jurisdiction of how many kits are left to be
    tested. We also need to identify which ones should get
    priority. After all, victims in cases in which the statute of
    limitations will soon expire will never get another chance at
    justice.
        We owe it to survivors like Debbie and to the hundreds of
    thousands who have not yet gotten a chance at justice to keep
    this a national priority and get the job done. Thank you for
    your role in that.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Berkowitz appears as a
    submission for the record.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you, Mr. Berkowitz. General Madigan.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MADIGAN,

                  ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF ILLINOIS

        Attorney General Madigan. Thank you, Chairman Cornyn,
    Ranking Member Durbin and Members of the Subcommittee, for the
    opportunity to testify on this important topic of timely
    testing of sexual assault evidence.
        We know that sexual assault is occurring at epidemic
    levels. In the United States, nearly 1 in 5 women will be raped
    during their lifetime. Sexual assault is too often a reality
    and a persistent threat in our homes, our neighborhoods, on
    college campuses, on military bases, and on Tribal lands.
        In contrast to the disturbingly large number of women
    sexually assaulted is the distressingly low number of women who
    report it. Studies indicate reporting ranges from 10 to, at
    most, 35 percent, and, in Illinois, the latest numbers reveal
    that less than 15 percent of reported rapes result in arrest.
        We know the main reason that women do not report rape is
    that they do not believe their crime will be taken seriously,
    and these unconscionably low numbers justify their concerns.
        Recently, survivors and their advocates have demanded that
    legislators and law enforcement focus on the horrific failure
    of our criminal justice system to prevent and properly respond
    to sexual assault. The failure of police to process rape kits
    is indicative of the overall problem.
        Five years ago, Human Rights Watch investigated unsubmitted
    rape kits in Illinois. Based on the police departments that
    responded, HRW determined that of 7,494 rape kits collected,
    only 1,474 could be confirmed as tested.
        In response to these shocking findings, I drafted and
    worked to pass the Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act. As
    you have heard, this was the first State law of its kind in the
    country. It required two things: first, the identification and
    testing of previously unsubmitted rape kits and, second, the
    creation of a statewide protocol to submit new rape kits to the
    crime lab within 10 days.
        This law resulted in the testing of over 4,000 previously
    unsubmitted kits. The results: 969 matches in the Federal CODIS
    data base. This massive failure to test rape kits resulted in
    the criminal justice system failing to protect public safety
    and failing to provide justice for sexual assault survivors.
        How do we ensure that rape kits are properly collected,
    submitted and tested in a timely manner?
        Currently, I am co-chairing a sexual assault working group
    in Illinois comprised of law enforcement, prosecutors, forensic
    scientists, and advocates to identify the barriers that prevent
    the efficient reporting, investigation and prosecution of
    sexual assault cases.
        From what we have learned, I propose the following: first,
    all States should have a law that requires all rape kits be
    submitted for testing. Second, we must institute mechanisms to
    ensure that police comply with the law and submit all rape kits
    for analysis. We can require tracking systems to ensure
    accountability and satisfy chain of custody concerns.
        Third, forensic labs need sufficient funding and resources
    to test all the evidence they receive. Fourth, labs should
    undertake efficiency reviews.
        Those measures are not enough. We must also recognize and
    rectify the other significant barriers that prevent sexual
    assaults from being investigated and prosecuted. The most
    important change necessary for successful sexual assault
    investigations and prosecutions is proper training for law
    enforcement and prosecutors.
        The fact is that often rape kits are unsubmitted for
    testing because of a blame-the-victim mentality or because
    investigators mistrust the survivor's story. I have learned
    that too often police avoid testing rape kits by unilaterally
    deciding not to pursue an investigation.
        In fact, at a recent summit I held on campus sexual
    assault, a police officer stated that he learned at the police
    academy that 80 percent of sexual assault allegations are
    false.
        It is also critical that trained sexual assault nurse
    examiners are available to all victims of sexual assault 24
    hours a day, 7 days a week. SANEs are needed to dramatically
    improve the collection of evidence and provide a compassionate
    response to the victim. In Illinois, my office has trained over
    1,200 SANEs, but there are only 3 hospitals that I know of that
    have 24/7 SANE programs.
        It is clear that our country's culture surrounding sexual
    assault and law enforcement's response to it must change. We
    must support survivors from the moment they report their crime
    or offenders will never be held accountable.
        The United States is still a long way from assuring the
    safety of women and girls, boys and men from sexual assault and
    its traumatic aftermath.
        I thank the Committee for this opportunity to testify and I
    welcome your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Attorney General Madigan appears
    as a submission for the record.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you very much. Ms. Byrd.

                    STATEMENT OF SARAH HAACKE BYRD,

                    MANAGING DIRECTOR, JOYFUL HEART

                     FOUNDATION, NEW YORK, NEW YORK

        Ms. Byrd. Chairman Cornyn, Ranking Member Durbin, Members
    of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting the Joyful Heart
    Foundation to testify today.
        On behalf of our founder and president, Mariska Hargitay,
    our CEO, Maile Zambuto, our board, staff and volunteers, and,
    most of all, the survivors we have the deep privilege to serve,
    it is an incredible honor to be here to talk about this
    important issue.
        The Joyful Heart Foundation was founded in 2004 with the
    mission to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual
    assault, domestic violence, and child abuse and to shine a
    light into the darkness that surrounds these issues.
        Our vision is bold and ambitious--one of a world without
    violence. Since 2010, the Joyful Heart Foundation has made the
    elimination of the rape kit backlog our top priority. Through
    partnerships with Federal, State and local government,
    nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, advocates, and
    survivors, we are working to bring attention, critical funding
    and reforms to improve the criminal justice response to sexual
    violence.
        Ending the rape kit backlog will take a coordinated effort
    and deep commitment at all levels of government. Elected
    officials must ensure that sufficient funding is dedicated to
    process untested rape kits, to investigate and prosecute those
    cases, to implement a survivor-centered approach to victim
    notification and reengagement, and to require law enforcement
    to keep track of every kit booked into evidence and to make all
    that information available to the public.
        Because most jurisdictions do not have a system for
    tracking or counting rape kits, we cannot be sure of the full
    extent of the rape kit backlog in the United States. What we do
    know is that each of these kits represents a lost opportunity
    to bring healing and justice to survivors and accountability
    for perpetrators.
        While the road ahead to full and lasting change is long,
    the good news it that reform is happening. This year more than
    20 State legislatures have passed legislation or have bills
    pending requiring sexual assault kit audits or some kind of
    mandatory kit submission timeline.
        These laws will extend what we know about the true extent
    of the backlog.
        Detroit has become one of the best examples of what a city
    can do when it has the political will to address its backlog.
    In 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office discovered
    11,341 untested rape kits in a police storage facility.
        The county received funding from the National Institute of
    Justice to create a multidisciplinary team, which included
    Joyful Heart, to study the causes of the backlog and develop a
    plan to move forward with reform.
        As of May 2015, Detroit's initiative has resulted in 1,133
    DNA matches and the identification of 288 potential serial
    rapists. The DNA from these kits is linked to crimes in 31
    States, from Alaska to New York, Texas to Illinois.
        The results underscore what we know about sex offenders--
    that they rape again and again, they commit all kinds of
    crimes, and they often move from State to State, community to
    community.
        Real reform begins when we extend a jurisdiction's
    backlog--when a jurisdiction's backlog is revealed. Cities must
    then confront the enormous task of finding the resources to
    implement comprehensive reform. The Federal Government has
    risen to this challenge. We are grateful to the President, Vice
    President and Congress for last year's creation of the new $41
    million grant program which provides communities with the
    critically needed resources to test their backlog kits and to
    implement comprehensive reforms.
        Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has also stepped up
    to contribute $35 million in funding for jurisdictions to test
    their kits. Joyful Heart is a proud partner in this effort.
        As more States and jurisdictions enact policies to reform
    law enforcement practices around rape kit testing, the need for
    funding will increase. An additional $41 million was requested
    in President Obama's FY 2016 budget request and the House of
    Representatives announced its inclusion in the FY 2016 commerce
    bill last week.
        We hope we can continue to count on your leadership and
    advocacy for these much needed funds as the appropriations
    process continues in the Senate.
        We thank you for the attention you have paid to this issue
    today. As Mariska has often said, the rape kit backlog is one
    of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we
    regard these crimes in our society. Testing rape kits sends a
    fundamental message to survivors of sexual violence that they
    matter, that what happens to them matters, that their cases
    matter. We must come together to solve this crisis. Survivors
    deserve nothing less.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Byrd appears as a submission
    for the record.]
        Chairman Cornyn. Thank you, Ms. Byrd.
        We will now proceed with a round of questions and alternate
    across the aisle here, so to speak.
        I think, Mr. Hearn, you and perhaps Attorney General
    Madigan mentioned this and maybe Mr. Berkowitz. One of the
    things that seems to me that has changed about the culture of
    testing rape kits is that previously, local law enforcement
    officials would make a decision not to test a rape kit if, for
    example, the identity of the assailant was known or for some
    other discretionary reason.
        Can you talk to the importance of the issue of uniformity
    of testing or reducing the discretion available to local law
    enforcement when it comes to testing these rape kits?
        Mr. Hearn. Yes, sir. I think it--to address the issue as a
    whole, you have got to have a stopping point so it does not
    reoccur and the only way to do that, in our opinion, is through
    the legislative action of ending discretionary testing.
        By requiring it or mandating testing on all criminal
    investigations, you relieve the burden of those discretionary
    decisions from law enforcement and prosecutors and the testing
    becomes mandatory. Across the State, everything is the same,
    and across the Nation, if it was done in all States.
        Chairman Cornyn. That has been a revelation to me, but it
    strikes me that many times local law enforcement investigating
    a sexual assault would look at the one crime and think that,
    well, maybe this rape kit will not shed light on this crime
    because we know who the assailant was, maybe there would only
    be an issue of consent or something of the nature.
        In fact, we have learned that not only will it help convict
    people who commit these crimes, it can actually stop people who
    commit serial offenses, which they typically do, Ms. Byrd and
    others mentioned. They do not just do it one time and go home.
    Then the third, at a time when we are all concerned, as we
    should be, about people being falsely accused, it can have a
    lot of power to exonerate people who have been falsely accused.
        I just think that a lot of people have not--we have not
    thought as broadly and as deeply as we should about the power
    of this incredible evidence.
        Money is a problem, and these are local crimes, typically,
    investigated by local police departments who may or may not
    have the resources to do it. They may not have access to a
    forensic lab that has the sort of trained personnel, the sort
    of state-of-the-art equipment or the like.
        I would just like to get the reaction from some of you. Are
    the things that we ought to be looking at in terms of forensic
    laboratories--I know Congress can help in terms of standards.
    We probably cannot help create a forensic laboratory for every
    jurisdiction that would like one. That is very expensive. I
    would be interested in Senator Tillis' view from North
    Carolina, formerly Speaker of the House, how he regards this
    issue.
        Is there some way that we can bring down the cost of
    testing rape kits and try to improve the uniformity of the labs
    and the expertise that they have to offer?
        General Madigan, do you have any views on that?
        Attorney General Madigan. I think you can certainly make
    sure that the labs that are out there are running efficiently,
    which would reduce both the time and, hopefully, the cost that
    is incurred. As you point out, I think the number one plea that
    we hear from our State police, crime labs and the forensic
    scientists is that they are overwhelmed, and while it is an
    important step forward that States are passing laws requiring
    the testing of all kits and requiring the submission of
    previously unsubmitted kits, I do know that they find that
    overwhelming.
        In Illinois, the commentary is that they will anticipate 70
    more kits per month coming in, so hundreds during the year, and
    that they would need to have at least 5 more forensic
    scientists hired. The financial resources are absolutely
    imperative to make sure that we do not continue to have a
    significant backlog.
        Chairman Cornyn. I know chain of custody of the evidence is
    very important in any criminal investigation. Local law
    enforcement is probably loathe to outsource some of this
    testing and every community has a certain amount of pride at
    having their own forensic lab.
        My own experience, when I was attorney general, not just in
    this area, but, for example, in paternity testing in connection
    with our child support enforcement program, we found that the
    cheapest and most efficient way to do this would be to contract
    on a competitive bidding basis with a national laboratory, not
    necessarily to try to recreate another lab in every community
    or in every State.
        I would just be interested if you have any light you can
    help us shed on that. Mr. Berkowitz, do you have any opinion in
    that regard?
        Mr. Berkowitz. Yes. I think you are absolutely right that
    there is a lot of private lab capacity out there, and I think
    many States have found that that is the most cost-efficient way
    to go, because dealing with the backlog is a sudden rush of
    thousands of cases, if it is a big city, and then it is
    hopefully done.
        Staffing up and bringing in all the new equipment you need
    to expand your State lab or your local lab is not always as
    efficient as using the private capacity that is out there.
        Chairman Cornyn. I will close with this. People might
    wonder why is the Federal Government concerned with something
    that frequently is viewed as a local crime or a State-based
    crime. Given the interstate nature of this crime, as many of
    you have mentioned, the transient nature of the assailant going
    from community to community, maybe State to State, the
    importance of having the CODIS or the FBI's DNA data base and
    making sure that the quality of the evidence that that matches
    against, I think there is, at least to my mind, clearly a
    strong Federal interest in this matter, as well.
        We need to figure a way to work efficiently at the local,
    State and the Federal level. Senator Durbin.
        Senator Durbin. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
        I want to try to trace, from your personal experience, Ms.
    Byrd and Attorney General Madigan and others who might know,
    who pays for what as we talk about this.
        We have a situation that I referred to earlier with our
    Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. He goes to Robbins, Illinois. It
    is a very small, very poor town, with not a very professional
    police department. He discovers in a locker this accumulation
    of rape kits that have been sitting there for years.
        We have talked about Detroit and finding 11,000 untested
    rape kits there.
        Under the ordinary course of events--let me start with you,
    Attorney General Madigan--under the ordinary course of events,
    who starts paying when the investigation is underway, the
    collection of the rape kit, the forwarding of it to a
    laboratory, the forwarding of that to prosecutors and such?
        Attorney General Madigan. You ask a very interesting
    question because we have a bill pending right now in the State
    of Illinois Legislature to ensure that after a rape kit has
    been collected, that the victim is actually not being billed
    for the medical collection of it.
        Senator Durbin. That happens?
        Attorney General Madigan. Unfortunately, that does happen
    and it should not be happening in order to receive Federal
    funding. That is one of the issues that we are contending with
    in our State.
        Senator Durbin. Who ordinarily pays for the kit to be----
        Attorney General Madigan. Then when it moves on, my
    understanding is the vast majority of it is being paid for
    through State funding that is also obviously supported with a
    lot of Federal funding so that the labs are ultimately
    incurring these costs, which can be anywhere from $500 to
    $1,500, depending on how much evidence and how complex.
        Senator Durbin. Let me take you back to the original
    examination of the victim and let us say it happens in an
    emergency room.
        Attorney General Madigan. Correct.
        Senator Durbin. Who pays the hospital bill?
        Attorney General Madigan. It could be that the State of
    Illinois will ultimately pay that. It could be that Medicaid
    will pay that. It should never be a situation where the victim
    is paying that, by law.
        Senator Durbin. Does the police department ever end up with
    responsibility for that?
        Attorney General Madigan. I do not believe the police
    department will ever end up with the responsibility of paying
    for the actual evidence collection of the rape kit.
        Senator Durbin. The kit moves from the emergency room to
    the police department. Let us assume that for a moment.
        Attorney General Madigan. In Illinois, that is correct,
    although we are talking about the possibility of eliminating
    that step and sending it straight to the crime lab.
        Senator Durbin. That crime lab is run by our Illinois State
    Police.
        Attorney General Madigan. It is run by the State Police,
    correct, but as Senator Cornyn mentioned, our State Police
    actually does outsource some of their testing and I know that
    Lake County outsources most of their testing. It is either
    going to a State Police crime lab, of which we have seven
    facilities in Illinois, or it is going to a private facility to
    be tested.
        Senator Durbin. After it has been tested at this police
    laboratory, I assume that it is then forwarded to a prosecutor.
        Attorney General Madigan. The information will initially go
    back to the police department and it may also go to the
    prosecutor's office if the police department has asked it to go
    to the prosecutor's office.
        Senator Durbin. Okay. Ms. Byrd, you talked about Detroit,
    11,000 kits that had been accumulated and never tested.
        Ms. Byrd. That is correct. In Detroit, they have raised
    local funds. State funds have been dedicated to help them clear
    their backlog, and private funds, as well. They are
    outsourcing, in some cases, their kits to a private lab to help
    them with the capacity.
        Through the district attorney's fund in New York,
    jurisdictions across the country will also have the opportunity
    to do that if their State or local labs do not have the
    capacity.
        There is a resource and a personnel issue in crime labs,
    and so it is one of the big challenges in some States. You are
    seeing a wait in a crime lab over a year for a kit to be
    tested. It is too long for an opportunity for justice to be
    served sooner.
        Senator Durbin. I mention this, we had a conversation
    earlier, the attorney general and I did, and said what about
    the statute of limitations running while we are waiting and you
    might tell the panel what is happening in our State or at least
    being considered.
        Attorney General Madigan. I think, in part, in response to
    the situation in Robbins, Illinois, that you brought up earlier
    during the hearing, the State legislature is currently moving a
    bill that I anticipate will pass during the spring session that
    would toll the statute of limitations until the test is
    actually completed.
        God forbid it is 6 years or it is 2 years or 1 year,
    whatever that is, the statute of limitations will not start
    running until the kit has actually been tested and those
    results returned.
        Senator Durbin. It might be interesting to see how many
    States have responded that way.
        Thank you very much. Thanks for your testimony.
        Chairman Cornyn. Senator Tillis.
        Senator Tillis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
    having a hearing on this important subject.
        Ms. Byrd, I think I am going to direct my first question to
    you. I know that the Joyful Heart Foundation issued a press
    release, I think it was called the Accountability Project, and
    in that press release, my home county, Mecklenburg County, had
    some 1,000 untested kits. Those are untested, not part of the
    backlog.
        I had my office reach out to the Criminal Investigation
    Bureau for Charlotte, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
    Department, and wanted to get a little bit more information on
    it. They have indicated to us that a number of those were cases
    not tested because the victim chose not to testify or the case
    was closed for some other reason.
        I am just trying to get to a point to where we are
    measuring the right numbers here. My question to you is what
    are your thoughts and your organization's thought as to whether
    or not every kit should be tested? Even in instances where the
    case may be closed or the victim has not granted authority,
    what are your thoughts on that?
        Ms. Byrd. First, let me say that a survivor's choice to
    move forward with the case should always be honored and that
    our approach to testing backlog kits should keep that in mind
    and be survivor-centered.
        What I will say, Joyful Heart Foundation believes that all
    kits should be tested and dispute the idea that only some kits
    should be tested. What we have learned through jurisdictions
    across the country testing their kits is that what we thought
    we knew about cases, about why to move forward with cases, has
    not held up. We are seeing the results from the DNA matches
    that we are seeing in places like Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis
    in Illinois.
        It begs the question why are we not testing these kits and
    there is a myriad of reasons why we hear from law enforcement
    they are not testing those kits.
        We believe and the evidence is showing that in many cases,
    survivors are not believed when they go to law enforcement and
    so law enforcement makes a decision to not move forward with
    the case. In some cases, there is victim blaming; why were you
    out too late, why were you in this situation?
        What we believe is that testing all kits eliminates that
    law enforcement bias and affords survivors the full possibility
    of receiving justice.
        Senator Tillis. Thank you. I do know that at least in North
    Carolina, we do not require the victim to pay for the test and
    that is a product of legislation that was put in place a few
    years back.
        You mentioned Detroit. Are there any particularly good
    examples or best practices of States that you would hold out as
    something that would just move the Nation ahead if they were
    more uniform across the other States, best practices, either
    municipalities or at the State level?
        Ms. Byrd. Yes. In fact, in Detroit, what we have seen work
    is a collaborative, community-based, multidisciplinary approach
    to reform. That is bringing together law enforcement,
    prosecutors, community advocates, researchers to come together
    and to tackle the process and to put in protocol systems in
    place to ensure that the rape kit backlog does not happen
    again, that the systemic failures that led to the problem in
    the first place does not happen, to ensure that there are
    protocols put in place for victim notification, for
    reengagement in the case of a backlog, of bringing survivors
    back in and engaging them with the criminal justice process.
        We are seeing that model be replicated in Cleveland and in
    Memphis and other cities, and I would say that the strongest
    best practice is to bring everybody in the community together
    to tackle the issue.
        Senator Tillis. If any other panelist that has anything to
    weigh in in terms of other best practices, that will be the
    balance of my time.
        [No response.]
        Senator Tillis. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
        Chairman Cornyn. Senator Franken.
        Senator Franken. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking
    Member, for holding this hearing. Thank you all for being here
    and for your tireless efforts to combat sexual violence and
    ensure that survivors have access to the resources necessary to
    begin their healing process.
        The rape kit backlog was one of the first issues I worked
    on when I first became a Senator almost 6 years ago. I was
    proud, in 2013, when I was part of the Violence Against Women
    Reauthorization Act. We included a provision that I authored
    which guaranteed that the survivors of sexual violence do not
    have to pay for the rape kit; that, again, the entity doing the
    test gets any Federal funding at all.
        Unfortunately, we are still here discussing how to handle
    the backlog, and I am hopeful that we are going to see some
    changes as a result of this hearing.
        Attorney general, the prevalence of sexual violence in
    communities across the Nation has received a lot of attention,
    a lot of media attention lately, and that is valuable.
        We need to focus on the ways that survivors of sexual
    violence often face significant challenges in pursuing and
    achieving justice, which often only adds to the trauma they
    already experienced.
        In your testimony, you note the need to increase access to
    sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANEs. Can you explain why
    these nurses are so critical to making sure that survivors have
    access to the care that they need and better access to the
    justice they deserve?
        Attorney General Madigan. A sexual assault nurse examiner
    is somebody who has received 80 hours of training--40 hours of
    classroom training, 40 hours of clinical training--in how to
    appropriately collect the evidence off an individual, in
    addition to understanding the psychological impacts of being a
    victim of a sexual assault. They can collect that evidence in a
    compassionate way that does not further victimize or traumatize
    that survivor.
        Additionally, you then have somebody who can be a very good
    expert witness if a prosecution is brought in one of those
    cases. When you talk to survivors, those individuals who
    actually went to a hospital ER or went somewhere where there
    was a SANE practicing report a much greater level of
    satisfaction with that very difficult, humiliating process.
        It is absolutely imperative, we have found, to make sure
    that we have appropriately trained individuals to collect the
    evidence, to ensure both the healing process of the victim, as
    well as a prosecution of one of these criminals.
        Senator Franken. Thank you.
        Mr. Berkowitz, Ms. Byrd, as a follow-up to my question of
    the attorney general, can you describe just generally what kind
    of access Americans currently have to adequately trained sexual
    assault nurse examiners, especially in rural areas and in
    communities most vulnerable to sexual violence?
        Mr. Berkowitz. Sure. It is very inconsistent. The bigger
    the area, the better the likelihood of finding a trained SANE
    and one who is available particularly overnight. There
    definitely needs to be more resources into making sure that
    there are more SANE nurses that have this training nationally.
        There is a lot of--particularly in rural areas and if you
    go into parts of Alaska, it could it could be hundreds of miles
    and a plane ride away to find a SANE. I think that is a
    problem.
        Just to add, I agree with everything General Madigan said
    about SANEs. I would add just one point, which is that it has
    been found that the likelihood of finding--of getting useable
    DNA out of the rape kit goes up significantly if it has been
    collected by a SANE who has had the training. That is another
    public safety value to having SANEs out there.
        Senator Franken. Ms. Byrd, do you have anything to add to
    that?
        Ms. Byrd. I think that for survivors who go to the
    hospital, being treated with the compassion and the care that
    this training provides is incredibly important. For women to
    make the journey to go into the hospital, as we have talked
    about, many women do not report the crime, but those who do go
    and move forward and get the testing of a rape kit, it is
    reassuring. It will mitigate some for the trauma of the
    exposure to the rape kit, which is 4 to 6 hours. It is
    invasive, it is extensive. We would like to see more across the
    country.
        Senator Franken. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank
    you, to all of you. Ms. Smith, thank you for your testimony.
        Chairman Cornyn. Senator Blumenthal.
        Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
    holding this very important hearing. To all of our panel, thank
    you for being here today.
        At the beginning of your testimony, Attorney General
    Madigan, you mentioned sexual assault on campuses as one of the
    locations where very frequently this crime--we should never
    forget that it is a crime no matter where it occurs--perhaps
    most frequently happens.
        I appreciate your reference to campus sexual assault
    because it is one of the crimes that is most commonly
    unreported and one of the places where female survivors may be
    discouraged from reporting by the lack of services, such as
    rape kits and nursing help.
        I have a measure that I proposed, the Campus Accountability
    and Safety Act, with a number of my colleagues, that would
    require colleges to post information on their website regarding
    the name and location of the nearest medical facility where an
    individual may have a rape kit administered, as well as
    transportation options to visit those kinds of facilities.
        I also understand you hosted a summit on campus sexual
    assault. I have held roundtables, 13 of them or more now,
    around my State in Connecticut.
        I wonder if you could tell us, and then maybe others on the
    panel have views, whether that kind of access is important to
    campus sexual assault survivors? Campus sexual assault
    survivors may have special needs and there may be special
    problems with reporting and seeking these kinds of services,
    and perhaps you can talk about that issue.
        Attorney General Madigan. Senator Blumenthal, I appreciate
    your work and we certainly are supportive of what you are doing
    in the State of Illinois.
        As you mentioned, we recently held three summits around the
    State of Illinois on campus sexual assault and we found that
    there was an overwhelming response from university, college
    professionals, as well as advocates and students and survivors,
    and local law enforcement even, to talk about these issues.
        It is absolutely imperative that campuses are following
    Federal law and do, in fact, have policies in place, are
    training individuals, and are absolutely providing information
    and resources to students. When and if they become victims of
    sexual assault, they know where they can go, they know who they
    can turn to, and they know the relief that could be available
    to them on their campus.
        As you point out, many of these people on college campuses
    who are victims of sexual violence do not end up reporting to
    local law enforcement. Nonetheless, the accommodations that
    they need should be available through their college
    administration.
        More and more we want to assure that those colleges and
    universities are aware of their legal requirements and are
    making those accommodations available so students can move
    forward with their education and not be permanently traumatized
    by sexual assault.
        Senator Blumenthal. One of the other provisions that we
    suggested is that there be memoranda of understanding, in
    effect, protocols between the campus and college administration
    and local law enforcement, whether it is police or prosecutors,
    and I wonder to what extent any of the members of the panel
    think that would be a good thing to do so that there are
    informed--better informed survivors who know to go to provide
    this evidence. It really is evidence that is necessary in a
    prosecution.
        Attorney General Madigan. Okay. I will respond. We have
    seen that the reviews of that are mixed. When we had campus
    lawyers and local law enforcement who had a good personal
    relationship, they felt that they did not need a memorandum of
    understanding in place. In other places, there was clearly a
    disconnect and the idea of having that memorandum of
    understanding seemed to force people to be put together in a
    way that may not result in actual cooperation.
        While I think it is a good idea, what we heard was most
    effective was the universities and local law enforcement who
    had, on their own, developed a relationship to address these
    situations.
        Senator Blumenthal. My time has expired. I want to thank
    all of you for your great work in this area and thanks for
    being here today. Thank you.
        Chairman Cornyn. Senator Whitehouse.
        Senator Whitehouse. Thank you very much, Attorney General
    Cornyn--I mean, Senator Cornyn.
        We are delighted to have this entire panel, which has been
    very helpful, but I particularly want to welcome my fellow
    attorney general.
        We have, I think, passed two laws already to try to deal
    with the rape kit problem. We have spent probably north of $1
    billion, which, being from Rhode Island, I still think is real
    money and we still have this very significant backlog problem.
        I am interested in two questions, I guess. One is if we
    were to try to solve this problem just with Federal carrots,
    how big do you think the expenditure would need to be
    considering that we have already spent $1 billion? Would it be
    wise to pair something of a stick with the carrot so that burn
    grant or other types of funding were contingent upon having
    made progress against rape kit backlogs in order to try to
    drive progress in this area?
        Let me lead with you, Attorney General Madigan.
        Attorney General Madigan. I think the carrot-and-stick
    approach is a good idea. For instance, a number of us discussed
    the idea of ensuring that there are audits done and tracking
    systems in place so that there can be a measure of public
    accountability.
        To the extent that you are making funds available, I think
    you also want to make sure that they are being used
    appropriately and efficiently. There is a series of things that
    can be done to make that a reality.
        Senator Whitehouse. Ms. Byrd.
        Ms. Byrd. I agree with the attorney general. Tracking,
    auditing, greater transparency and accountability built into
    the system will help ensure that the backlog does not continue,
    that we continue to address the investigation and prosecutorial
    resource needs, and I absolutely agree with that.
        Senator Whitehouse. Within the--most of these cases are not
    done by State prosecutors. Most of them are done by county
    prosecutors, district attorneys. I do not know how many
    Illinois has, but I bet you have a lot.
        Is there a wide array, in the experience of anyone on the
    panel, between the local best performers, people who are really
    diligent about clearing their backlogs, trying to preserve the
    DNA evidence, get cases made, and others for whom it is just
    not that big a priority for them?
        Do you think it is a pretty even march forward, in your
    experience, across the country and jurisdiction by
    jurisdiction, are there some real stars who are working really
    hard and producing great results and some real laggards who
    just have not picked up the stick at all?
        Attorney General Madigan. Let me respond to part of your
    question and then give somebody else on the panel an
    opportunity to talk, as well.
        The State of Illinois has 102 counties. Each county has a
    State's attorney, who is your front line criminal prosecutor.
        We have found that when they submit their DNA to the State
    crime lab, completely different times. Cook County, they say it
    takes them over a year to get results of DNA testing. Madison
    County says 60 to 90 days. Lake County has started to
    outsource, I think, in large part, for some of the reasons that
    were addressed earlier; that it is more efficient and faster to
    get their testing done by somebody other than the State police
    crime lab.
        Yes, there are some places doing much better in terms of
    prosecutions than others.
        Senator Whitehouse. Mr. Hearn.
        Mr. Hearn. Senator, I think part of the issue, though, is
    the changing mind set of this issue. People are diligent about
    addressing the individual case and that may be a quick plea.
    Again, if identity, for instance, is not a question in the
    case, moving on to the next case has maybe been part of the
    issue.
        By changing the philosophy and the nature of these types of
    investigations due to the predatory nature and the moving
    around, it will change some of that thinking so that all kits
    will be tested regardless of that individual case perspective
    and viewed more conceptually.
        Senator Whitehouse. Do you agree with Attorney General
    Madigan, in your experience, that there is a wide array of
    performance at the local, county sheriff level or are people
    pulling forward pretty evenly?
        Mr. Hearn. I guess it varies. There are, obviously,
    resource issues at the rural side that are not faced at the
    urban side, but the urban side has volume issues that the rural
    side does not have. It varies between both.
        Senator Whitehouse. Just to conclude, do you think if you
    had to, you could come up with a handful of benchmarks that
    every prosecutor's office, every police department or sheriff's
    department ought to be attaining and make something contingent
    on their reaching that standard?
        Mr. Hearn. At least speaking for Texas, with our current
    legislation that is in place that requires the submission
    within 30 days of receipt by law enforcement, I think that
    issue has been addressed.
        It is the second half of the issue that falls on those that
    oversee a crime lab that getting the testing done in a timely
    manner, the resources needed to do that, and understanding that
    while we are here talking about sexual assault kits, sexual
    assault investigation includes other aspects of forensic
    science, toxicology, latent prints.
        There are other--a kit may not be taken in every sexual
    assault investigation due to latency or some other issue. The
    broad investigation of sexual assault includes a whole host of
    forensic issues.
        Senator Whitehouse. Understood. I have gone over my time. I
    thank the Chairman.
        Chairman Cornyn. Senator Klobuchar.
        Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank
    you for your leadership on this issue. We also have the good
    news that yesterday our sex trafficking bill passed through the
    House of Representatives, after a long journey. We are glad
    about that.
        I know many of you. You have been here before in front of
    our Committee. As, Mr. Berkowitz, you know, we have a really
    strong RAINN chapter in Minnesota, and I have met with them
    many times.
        The last time, when I remember back in December 2009, we
    had a hearing and we heard from you--Ms. Smith, thank you so
    much for coming back--from a guy named Steve Redding, who
    headed up--when I was chief prosecutor in Hennepin County,
    Minnesota's biggest county, we led most of the rape cases and
    the DNA issues in our Supreme Court, which, Attorney General
    Madigan, a guy named Steve Redding, who has done some really
    good work in the area.
        What I was first curious about was how you have seen things
    change in the last 5 years. Have there been improvements--I do
    not know who wants to chime in on that--since we have had that
    hearing in terms of the backlog nationally.
        Mr. Hearn. Senator, I will go first. For the State of
    Texas, State legislation has dramatically changed the
    environment of the investigation. The legislation ended
    discretionary testing for criminal investigation purposes.
    Every kit must be submitted and must be tested.
        Senator Klobuchar. Do people know if the other States are
    doing the same thing? Because I know our frustration would be
    even if Minnesota was caught up, if someone was from another
    State and committed a crime and they had a backlog, it hurt our
    victims, just as if the perpetrator was from our State.
        Mr. Hearn. I think others have spoken earlier that couple
    of States have mandatory testing. Others are in the process of
    doing similar legislation.
        Senator Klobuchar. There have been some improvements, do
    you think, nationally?
        Mr. Hearn. I think so.
        Senator Klobuchar. All right. Then the second thing I would
    ask about was the VAWA reauthorization which is coming up
    again. In that bill, we included a number of provisions to
    allow grant funds to be used to support sexual assault nurse
    examiners. I know Senator Franken touched on this in his
    questions.
        What more do you think can be done in this area? Anyone can
    take it.
        Attorney General Madigan. I am happy to. Do you want to
    talk? One of the things that could be most helpful is to ensure
    that hospitals are supportive of SANE programs. I have tried to
    work with the Illinois Hospital Association to ensure that we
    have 24/7 SANE programs in at least each trauma region of our
    State, of which there are 11.
        We are still at a point that I am only aware of three known
    24/7 SANE programs in hospitals in the State of Illinois.
        It is insufficient. Our office has trained over 1,200 SANEs
    and when I talk to the SANEs, they tell me that they are not
    supported in terms of the clinical training that they need and
    that hospitals do not give them an opportunity to practice,
    which, as we have talked about, for a variety of reasons,
    traumatizes victims, does not allow us to collect DNA as well,
    and does not provide us with as good a professional witness
    during a prosecution.
        You can do more or we can all find ways to do more to
    support SANE programs across the country.
        Senator Klobuchar. Anyone else want to chime in on that?
        Ms. Byrd. I would just like to say that in a lot of--in
    some of the rural areas, they have gone to like mobile units,
    because whereas one area could not afford to have a SANE
    program, then they have equipped this van and they actually go
    to the victim. It still takes some time sometimes, but at least
    they are making themselves available to a victim, which, in my
    opinion, SANEs are also one of the best kept secrets in the
    sexual assault world because a lot of victims do not even know
    what they are or that they are available. I believe it is also
    the key to getting victims to report.
        Senator Klobuchar. Right. Very good. Thank you. The last
    question I was going to ask was about recordkeeping, and I
    think we have known that one of the key things as we talk about
    what these States--to see what kits are sitting there untested
    is maintaining accurate records.
        Some States have new auditing programs. I know the number
    of, as I mentioned untested kits in our State is really quite
    low. We are also considering legislation at the State level to
    do an audit.
        How can we ensure that the audits are effective? How is the
    backlog issue do you think going to be impacted by continuing
    transitions to electronic and digital systems which would allow
    us to check those audits? Do you have any examples of best
    practices on that?
        Mr. Hearn.
        Mr. Hearn. I can touch on that from our experience as a
    lesson learned in Texas. Our legislation provided 45 days for
    the statewide audit, which was far too low. I am not aware of
    any law enforcement agency in the Nation that has an electronic
    tracking system that shows I have a kit, it was sent to the
    lab, and it was tested. All three of those components are
    necessary.
        We are asking agencies to go flip through case files to see
    is there a kit, did it go to the lab, did I get any results
    back from the lab to know that it was tested, and that takes
    time, especially for the larger agencies, and it takes
    resources.
        I think Mr. Berkowitz touched on the fact earlier that the
    SAFER Act has funding available, but I do not believe any of
    that has been provided at this point.
        Senator Klobuchar. Right.
        Mr. Hearn. I know that was a burden on our agencies trying
    to provide the audit.
        Senator Klobuchar. To have to do the audit.
        Mr. Hearn. The deadline, they were diligent about trying to
    meet the deadline, but the deadline was missed, and we are
    still catching up to some of those agencies today.
        Senator Klobuchar. In an ideal world, they would be
    electronic, I suppose.
        Mr. Hearn. Ideally.
        Senator Klobuchar. To have the funding for that up front
    and then it would be so simple to do an audit and so simple to
    have accountability on what is happening with the test.
        Mr. Hearn. Yes, ma'am.
        Senator Klobuchar. Does anyone want to add anything to
    that?
        Ms. Byrd. Senator, there is a pilot project going on in
    Detroit right now which is using--in partnership with UPS, is
    developing a tracking system to do just what you are mentioning
    right now.
        Senator Klobuchar. Where is that again?
        Ms. Byrd. That is in Detroit. What they are hoping is it
    will allow them to monitor through the entire process where the
    kit is and for them to keep better track and be able to do the
    audits moving forward.
        We are very early in that process, but the investment into
    technology to track is critically important in order to ensure
    that backlogs do not occur in the future.
        Senator Klobuchar. Exactly. I just always believed that
    when we started tracking cases, I mean, I remember when I came
    into my job, there was one attorney that had a bunch of truancy
    cases in a drawer, but I will just let that go for now. Maybe
    like 100 of them.
        The more we could do the tracking with computers on
    everything and then you can start having timelines and you just
    bring accountability into the whole system, and, to me, that is
    going to make a big difference because people then can be
    compared from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
        If they have an ultimate problem, which they may really
    have, about funding, then that explains why they are behind
    other jurisdictions. It will really help us make the case for
    funding if we have all that data and that is why I kept asking
    about these pilots and what is happening.
        Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
        Chairman Cornyn. Mr. Berkowitz, it seems like there has
    been a lot of testimony about the role of audits raising the
    visibility of this issue of the rape kit backlog and, if I am
    not mistaken, you were one of the people who was championing
    that idea 5 years or so ago, and we were able to implement that
    requirement in the SAFER Act.
        Would you comment about your views in terms of what
    function the audit process plays in solving this problem?
        Mr. Berkowitz. Yes, sir. Thank you for being the lead on
    the SAFER Act and getting that passed and working with Senator
    Bennet and with Congressmen Poe and Maloney.
        I think audits are a crucial piece of this in two ways.
    One, it gets law enforcement to go into their warehouses, look
    through their storage rooms and figure out what cases are
    there. Because of the lack of technology, that is often a
    challenge for many departments. Giving that encouragement to go
    through this process I think is really helpful.
        Then the other thing that is really helpful is
    transparency. I think that the audit numbers--the SAFER Act
    provided that the Justice Department would post all these on
    the web so media and the public can compare jurisdiction by
    jurisdiction, and that is naturally going to create some
    grassroots pressure on jurisdictions to address and test their
    backlogs.
        Chairman Cornyn. I could not agree more that as long as
    this problem is sort of out of sight, out of mind, it is easy
    to ignore, but you cannot ignore the numbers that we are seeing
    from these audits, and I think part of the reason we are here
    today is because the visibility of this issue has been raised
    over time.
        The person who I credit it with mostly is Debbie Smith for
    being such a great example and a champion on this issue. I
    would be remiss, Debbie, if I did not ask you if, based on what
    you have heard today, based on your own experience and working
    so hard in this area for so long for so many people, do you
    have any advice and counsel about what else we need to be doing
    that we are not doing or what we may have overlooked?
        Ms. Smith. There has been a lot of talk about money today
    and I know that is huge. I think, for me, and I guess--I have
    said often that I guess this is why they do not name bills
    after people who are still alive, because we come around and we
    say what is going on. For me, I would just like to see the
    money used more for what Congress meant it to be used for.
        Everybody--there was such bipartisanship on this bill and
    it is supposed to be a backlog bill, and backlog meaning
    several different things; backlog meaning the rape kits which
    need to be tested.
        Without testing offender samples, testing those kits means
    nothing. It is not just about testing. It is about matching and
    matching those numbers and getting those rapists' names and
    getting them off the street.
        It is also about building capacity and making sure that the
    labs can keep up with their workload once that backlog is done.
        I believe the Debbie Smith Act has been sort of a victim of
    its own success. We have done a great job and police officers
    are beginning to see the value of what was once--when my case
    went to trial, it was termed as the voodoo science and that was
    just in 1995.
        When we look back and see, we have come such a long way. We
    still have a long way to go. We have to be able to get all
    three of these components working together in order to get this
    job done so we do not have to keep reauthorizing the Debbie
    Smith bill and Debbie Smith can go back to Williamsburg and she
    does not have to come to Washington anymore.
        I just would like to see that money used efficiently for
    what Congress and for what everybody fought for it and used for
    that purpose, and, to me, that is the best way that we can
    serve victims is to do what we set out to do.
        Chairman Cornyn. Mr. Berkowitz, I think you were the one
    who talked about if the 75 percent of the funds had been used
    actually to test rape kits, what a dramatic impact that would
    have on this--who knows what it is--400,000 rape kit backlog
    without anymore taxpayer money being appropriated.
        Thank you for that observation. I think that makes Ms.
    Smith's point very well.
        We talked a lot about transparency and accountability and I
    agree that that has really been an important part of the
    reforming of this whole problem that we have seen.
        I would just note, Mr. Hearn, Texas actually posts on a
    website all of the rape kit audit information, does it not?
        Mr. Hearn. Yes, sir. We post the reported cases from the
    audit and their current outsourcing status.
        Chairman Cornyn. Someone asked about carrots and sticks. We
    need to be careful on how we approach that and what we tie
    grant money to, but it strikes me as a pretty commonsense
    approach to creating the kind of transparency and
    accountability that I think will continue to cause people to
    come to Congress and to their local--their State legislature
    and their local county government and say what are you doing to
    help address this problem and to make the situation better.
        I think that sort of transparency and accountability is
    really important.
        Senator Durbin, I have taken another partial round, any
    other questions you have?
        Senator Durbin. No.
        Chairman Cornyn. Let me just say, to all of you, thank you
    very much for being here today. Thanks to each of you in your
    own way for being leaders in this important effort. We are all
    committed to working together to eliminate this backlog, if
    that is humanly possible, recognizing that this is a big
    country and a lot of different layers of law enforcement and a
    lot of different challenges, rural and urban and the like.
        I am convinced that working together we can definitely make
    this situation much better than it is now for people like
    Debbie Smith and the people she represents.
        Thank you very much. The hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 4:16 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
        [Additional material submitted for the record follows.]

                                A P P E N D I X

    Submitted by Senator Cornyn:

     Nance, Penny, editorial from The Christian Post..................    75

     O'Malley, Nancy, E., statement...................................    78

    Submitted by Senator Durbin:

     Dart, Thomas J., statement.......................................    90

     Innocence and Forensic Science Group Letter......................    84

     Spahos, Charles A., statement....................................    92

     Thompson, Jennifer, statement....................................    94

     Zambuto, Maile M., statement.....................................    96

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