[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18668]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PASS THE SAFER ACT TODAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 1 minute.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in 1985, 13-year-old Lavinia Masters 
went to sleep in her bedroom, which should be the safest place on Earth 
for children. But a few hours later, she was woken up by an outlaw who 
sexually assaulted her and put a knife to her throat. She went to the 
hospital. DNA evidence was taken from her. She did everything she was 
supposed to do. But that evidence sat, untested, on a dusty crime lab 
shelf for 20 years while the perpetrator ran loose somewhere in Texas. 
When the kit was finally tested, police discovered that Kevin Turner 
had committed this crime. Justice could not occur for Lavinia because 
the statute of limitations had run.
  Mr. Speaker, Lavinia is not alone. There are 400,000 untested rape 
kits with DNA evidence in the United States. That's why I have 
introduced, along with Congresswoman Maloney of New York, the SAFER 
Act. And we can pass it today by unanimous consent. This is a 
bipartisan piece of legislation. New Yorker, Texan, Democrat, and 
Republicans, speaking different languages, it doesn't get much more 
bipartisan than that. This act would allow funds to be used to test 
untested sexual assault kits for DNA evidence so justice can be done 
for victims.
  And that's just the way it is.

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