[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S2281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. CANTWELL:
  S. 2055. A bill to make grants to train sexual assault nurse 
examiners, law enforcement personnel, and first responders in the 
handling of sexual assault cases, to establish minimum standards for 
forensic evidence collection kits, to carry out DNA analyses of samples 
from crime scenes, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Debbie 
Smith Act, a bill to provide law enforcement the tools to track and 
convict sexual assailants, and to help ensure that rape survivors are 
provided prompt treatment that also provides the dignity and respect 
they deserve. This bill addresses a serious problem in this country, 
the huge DNA backlog and uneven processing of DNA evidence in rape 
cases.
  According to the Department of Justice, somewhere in America, a woman 
is raped every two minutes. One in three women will be raped in her 
lifetime. In my home State of Washington the number of sexual assaults 
is even higher. According to the Washington State Office of Crime 
Victims Advocacy 38 percent of women in my State have been sexually 
assaulted. This is unacceptable.
  Debbie Smith, is a native of Roanoke, VA, who was brutally raped in 
the woods behind her house in March 1989. Six years later, because 
evidence had been properly preserved, her assailant's DNA profile was 
cross-referenced with the Virginia DNA Databank and was found to match 
the DNA of a current prison inmate. He was convicted of the rape and 
was sentenced to two life terms plus 25 years. Debbie Smith has since 
become a national spokesperson on the importance of collecting and 
analyzing DNA samples.
  As Debbie Smith and women in my State have come to know collecting, 
analyzing, and entering this critical DNA information evidence into the 
Combined DNA System, CODIS, database is often the key to finding and 
convicting a sexual assailant and stopping him from attacking again. 
Unfortunately, many jurisdictions throughout the country do not have 
the funding for this simple, yet vital process. Consequently, crime 
scene kits go unanalyzed and valuable DNA information is lost forever.
  Today, over 20,000 DNA samples are sitting useless in storage. These 
samples could be holding the clues needed to solve crimes, or even to 
track a serial rapist. This means 20,000 women who had the courage to 
report their rape may never find the peace of mind of someone knowing 
their assailant has been caught.
  By authorizing funding to carry out analyses on crime scenes samples 
and cross-reference DNA evidence with crime databanks, this bill 
provides law enforcement with the tools necessary for an effective and 
successful criminal investigation.
  The bill also provides grants to broaden the use of the Sexual 
Assault Nurse Examiners program. The SANE program provides nurses and 
first responders with specific training so that critical forensic 
evidence is thoroughly collected and documented and that sexual assault 
survivors are treated with professional care in a confidential and 
sensitive environment. SANE nurses can make the difference to women 
facing one of the most difficult events of their lives. And, SANE 
nurses can make the difference in sending valuable information to crime 
laboratories rather than improperly collected evidence that is 
impossible to analyze.
  In 1995, a young woman at home in Olympia, WA, was raped at gunpoint. 
At St. Peter Hospital later that night, she said the SANE nurses who 
collected DNA evidence after the assault ``made [her] feel at ease, 
more confident, and more comfortable.'' The SANE nurses' training in 
proper evidence collection proved equally valuable. The DNA evidence 
collected, when cross-referenced with the CODIS was databank matched 
that of a convicted serial rapist Jeffrey Paul McKechnie, the ``I-5 
Rapist.,'' resulting in his conviction for the crime.
  This bill is a reasonable and necessary step that needs to be taken 
to address the backlog of DNA samples from rape cases across the 
country, and to broaden the use of the SANE program to improve and 
standardize the collection of forensic evidence while also addressing 
the physical and psychological needs of the victim. This bill makes 
sure that we can catch the next Jeffrey Paul McKechnie and make our 
streets safer. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass 
this bill and get the necessary funding to address the DNA backlog in 
this critical area once and for all.
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