Page 5 - Rape Kits News Today

Gov. Gavin Newsom signs bill requiring most colleges to provide free transportation for students to receive a sexual assault forensic exam.

From 50 weeks down to 18. The rape kit backlog in Tennessee still remains a problem, but in a year, the wait time has been cut down significantly.

“As long as rape kits sit untested, authorities are failing the victims and communities we’ve sworn to protect,” Sen. John Cornyn said.

Some of the kits had been gathering dust in hospital, law enforcement and university security storage rooms since the 1980s.

A year since the death of 34-year-old mom and teacher Eliza Fletcher sparked a statewide conversation on rape kits, processing times have improved, but not as much as victim advocates had hoped.

Preston Chenier, 46, was arrested earlier this week in Louisiana and awaits extradition to Galveston County, where he will be charged with aggravated sexual assault, according to Det. Matthew Cypert of the La Marque Police Department.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is working hard to expedite the testing of rape kits following several high-profile cases where kits went untested for months.

A report from the Louisiana Statistical Analysis Center found that 5,508 sexually-oriented criminal offenses were reported to the state in 2022 but only 1,168 rape kits were received. In 2022, Louisiana had 711 sexual assault kits in the backlog.

A bill is advancing in the legislature that would allow for survivors of rape to track their rape kits. One state senator hopes this will help address the backlog in the state crime lab.

Bill to test rape kits by 30 days failed this legislative session, and advocates say it's time lawmakers put victims first.