Advocates hopeful newly signed laws will prevent future backlogs of sexual assault kits
Two pieces of legislation signed into law this week give sexual assault survivors greater access to information and clear expectations about how evidence will be handled in their cases, advocates say.
Gov. Tony Evers signed both measures Monday, codifying requirements for doctors, nurses and police officers who handle sexual assault kits and establishing a system that gives survivors the ability to find out the location and status of their own sexual assault kits at any time.
Ian Henderson, policy and systems director for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, described the legislation as an "essential step" toward preventing a future backlog of sexual assault kits in the state.
"We're very pleased that we finally got these bills over the finish line," he said.
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In 2014, Wisconsin did a one-time audit and discovered thousands of sexual assault kits were being held by police departments or hospitals and had never been submitted to labs for testing.
The most recent count puts the number of previously unsubmitted kits at 6,841. Of those, 4,475 were designated for testing and now all but three have confirmed test results.
Some kits weren't tested for a variety of reasons: the victim may not have wanted the kit tested or there had already been a conviction related to the case.
The new laws send a clear message to survivors: "We won't let this happen again," Henderson said.
Dana Pellebon, co-executive director of the Rape Crisis Center in Madison, emphasized the importance of giving survivors easy access to information about their sexual assault kits.
"Information is power for survivors," she said.
The system will also help advocates and anyone else who works with survivors give clear and accurate information about what they can expect to happen with their sexual assault kits, Pellebon said.
The law now requires doctors and nurses to notify police within 24 hours of collecting a sexual assault kit and, in turn, requires police to take possession of the kit within 72 hours, then send it to the State Crime Lab within two weeks. If a victim doesn't want to report their assault, their kit is still sent to the Crime Lab and stored for up to 10 years.
Amy Flanders, executive director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Appleton, said the provision in the law that allows victims who don't want to report to have their kits stored provides them with a greater sense of control over the process.
"That gives them the opportunity to do what works for them," she said. "They can decide when they're ready."
The ability to track and know what's happening with their kits could even help some survivors heal and rebuild their sense of self, Flanders said.
"I think what it does is it really helps them realize that everybody is taking seriously what happened to them," she said.
Contact Chris Mueller at 920-996-7267 or cmueller@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AtChrisMueller.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Wisconsin sexual assault kits: New laws hoped to help prevent backlogs
