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Sexual assault survivors see some hope for justice as rape kit backlogs finally clear

Tens of thousands of backlogged rape kits have been processed since the problem came to light.

Photo credit: Canva

Some rape survivors have waited years for their rape kits to be processed.

Some good news for survivors of sexual assault is coming in from jurisdictions around the country as rape kit backlogs are finally being eliminated.

East Tennessee is almost finished clearing its rape kit backlog, with only about 20 kits to go and a much faster processing time. According to WVLT News, processing a rape kit in the region took more than 10 months on average in 2022. Currently, the wait is just 10 weeks, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation hopes to have the catch-up on the backlog completed in October of 2024.

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Washington state has also declared that its rape kit backlog is "essentially eliminated” after processing more than 30,000 kits over the past decade. In 2015, Washington took inventory of all of its unprocessed rape kits and began implementing a system to expedite their processing. A House bill passed in 2019 required that by May of 2022, rape kits would be tested within 45 days. According to KPTV News, 95% of kits are tested and DNA entered into a database in 45 days, as reported by the Washington State Patrol’s Vancouver Crime Lab, where most of the state's kits are processed.

North Carolina, West Virginia and other states have also successfully brought their backlog to at or near zero.

Rape kits can provide vital evidence in sexual assault investigations

What this means for some rape survivors is justice finally being served, as their rape kit evidence backs up their case. For others, it means answers, as some don't know the identity of the person who raped them and DNA analysis from the kit provided that information. For many, it's a sense of relief that there's at least some chance that the person who hurt them will be found and convicted and won't be able to hurt anyone else.

The abysmal state of rape kit processing in the U.S. was one of the little-known realities that came to light during the Me Too movement. A sexual assault victim could report a rape right away, go to the hospital to endure hours of invasive procedures to collect bodily fluids and DNA to help prove the crime, only to wait years for their rape kit to even be processed, much less submitted as evidence.

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Actor Mariska Hargitay has been at the forefront of the movement to eliminate rape kit backlogs with her Joyful Heart Foundation's End the Backlog campaign.

“To me, the backlog is one of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we regard these crimes in our society," Hargitay shares on the campaign's website. "Testing rape kits sends a fundamental and crucial message to victims of sexual violence: You matter. What happened to you matters. Your case matters. For that reason, The Joyful Heart Foundation, which I founded in 2004, has made ending the rape kit backlog our #1 advocacy priority.”

The six pillars of rape kit reform

End the Backlog established six pillars of reform to help jurisdictions process rape kits more expediently and catch up on processing untested kits. Those pillars are:

1. Implement an annual statewide inventory of kits.

2. Mandate the submission and testing of all backlogged kits.

3. Mandate the testing of all new kits.

4. Create and use a statewide kit tracking system.

5. Implement mechanisms for survivors to easily find out about the status of their kits.

6. Allocate appropriate funding to submit, test, and track kits.

Washington is one of more than a dozen states that have implemented all six pillars, which has enabled the state to turn its backlog around.

“Each of those kits is a survivor whose voice was never heard, who didn’t have a path to justice, and left a lot of predators in the community to re-offend,” Washington representative Tina Orwall told KPTV. "We have a system in place where this is never going to happen again. Those kits will never sit on a shelf. The survivor will have a voice. They can check the status of the kits and the process.”

Why have so many rape kits gone untested?

The status of rape kit backlogs varies greatly by state. A few states still have thousands of kits awaiting processing, some hundreds, some zero and some don't have enough trackable information to even know how many there are. According to End the Backlog, many jurisdictions don't have systems for counting or tracking rape kits.

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But making sure rape kits are tracked and processed is important, not just for survivors but for the safety of the public as well.

“Since so many sexual assailants are serial offenders … the DNA from a rape kit is often the material difference between a sexual predator going to jail or remaining free to reoffend,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) at aSenateJudiciary subcommittee hearing in 2015. “When rape kits remain untested and sitting on a shelf, the consequences can be nothing short of devastating.”

So why have so many rape kits gone unsubmitted and untested? According to an investigative report from Sofia Resnick of Rewire News, the "he said, she said" nature of rape allegations has been used to "justify the systemic failure of police and prosecutors nationwide to properly process forensic evidence that could lead to more sexual assault convictions." Rape by definition revolves around consent, which is often difficult to prove one way or another. Resnick reported that police would often only push for rape kit testing in cases that didn't hinge on the consent question or where the assailant's identity was unknown. It's taken time for the importance of testing all rape kits to be understood by everyone involved in the investigative and prosecution process, as those kits contain a wealth of information beyond just DNA that can aid investigators in determining which parts of the victim's and assailant's narrative are backed up by evidence.

However, reality is rape is a difficult crime to prove, even with physical evidence. Despite more rape kits being tested, convictions are still hard to come by and many survivors don't find justice. Anything that provides relevant information about an alleged assault is important, however, and survivors deserve to have their rape kits processed in a timely manner, whether they end up ultimately proving their case or not.

See where your state ranks and learn more about what's being done to end rape kit backlogs at endthebacklog.org. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, check out the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Hotline by calling 1-800-656-HOPE or use the Online Hotline: hotline.rainn.org/online. (En Español: rainn.org/es)

From Your Site Articles

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Bars in Canada are using these artistic drink coasters to fight sexual assault.

You're at the bar with your friends. Over a couple of cold ones and maybe a handful of peanuts, you talk about sports, politics, and ... consent?

That's exactly what the four women behind Aisle 4, a "curatorial collective" based in Toronto, want to see more of in the world.

Shannon Linde and the other curators work with local artists to create socially-engaged artwork that lives in the real world, not on gallery walls. Finding a way to tackle the topic of women's safety in bars has been on their agenda for a while.

"This has come up quite a bit. I mean, we are four women," Linde says. "People making an effort to change the dangerous climate is not happening as quickly as you would expect."

Aisle 4: Emily Fitzpatrick, Patricia Ritacca, Renée van der Avoird, and Shannon Linde. All photos by Aisle 4, used with permission.

Aisle 4 worked with local artists in Toronto to design a series of eye-catching coasters that would spark conversations in bars around consent, harassment, and assault.

It's no secret any place where lots of alcohol is being consumed can be dangerous. From aggressive, leering Tinder dates, pushy would-be suitors, or even people following them home, women can face an absurd amount of peril for simply wanting to go out and have a drink.

The coaster project, called "On the Table," quietly reminds that "Consent matters" and implores people to "Listen to your gut."

Linde says she knows a coaster isn't going to deter an attacker, for example, but hopefully getting small groups of people talking about the issues openly will have a positive effect.

"A coaster can't change patriarchy but it can remind you that gender is fluid and empathy is imperative." By Hazel Meyer

There's been a bigger push recently to get bar and restaurant staff involved in the fight against harassment.

Plenty of establishments have been in the news lately for adopting "safe words," i.e. a woman can ask for "Angela" or order an "Angel shot" to alert the staff that she needs help.

Critics of these measures say they put the onus on someone to figure their own way out of a dangerous situations, rather than on the people who make them feel unsafe; they also point out that the code words won't do much good once everyone knows what they mean.

On the Table takes a different approach and, quite literally, lays the uncomfortable truth about safety out in the open.

"Consent matters. Listen to her." By Lido Pimienta

"What we're not attempting to do is enact massive social change," Linde says. "Because that's so unrealistic."

She says most of us live in a bit of a bubble, only talking about the important stuff with people we know agree with us. These coasters might be a chance to change that.

"Mostly men are surprised that I might have felt unsafe many times in the past month," she says. "I don't think it's as known what the experience of women is day to day."

"Men are allies." By Jesse Harris

So far, nine bars in the Toronto area have eagerly signed up to use the coasters. More will likely join the effort soon.

The coasters can't be found in the wild just yet (they're currently being printed and will be distributed soon), but Linde says the feedback on the campaign so far has been amazing, and unlike a lot of their work, it has completely transcended the art community.

"This is definitely the most far-reaching project we've done to date," she says.

"Listen to your gut." by Aisha Sasha John

It remains to be seen if the project will have the impact the women at Aisle 4 are hoping for.

But at least they've done their part by creatively trying to further an important conversation. Whether everyone chooses to listen ... that's the bigger question.

Content warning: explicit discussion of sexual assault.

Last week, Rolling Stone published a profile on "Westworld" actress Evan Rachel Wood. It was a pretty normal interview, except for one thing.

Wood, whose character on "Westworld" is raped multiple times, opened up in the interview about her own personal experience as a survivor of rape. Alex Morris, the author of the piece, included a quote from an email Wood sent him in which she explained why she told him her story, and why she wants to tell the world.

In her email to Morris, Wood wrote:

"Yes, I've been raped. By a significant other while we were together. And on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar ... I don't believe we live in a time where people can stay silent any longer. Not given the state our world is in with its blatant bigotry and sexism."

Photo by Frazier Harrison/Getty Images.

Morris' article was meant mainly to highlight Wood's work on "Westworld," so it's understandable that he chose to include only a small section of Wood's email about her rape.

But after the article came out, Wood decided that wasn't enough.

Wood published her "confession letter" in its entirety on Twitter.

"Well, since everything is out in the open now, figured I would share the confession letter I wrote to @RollingStone in its entirety," Wood tweeted, with a screengrab of the email and the hashtag #NotOK.

By Evan Rachel Wood/Twitter.

The letter speaks to many of the reasons why survivors of rape often don't come forward when they've been sexually assaulted, including a fear of being blamed, being accused of making it up, and being told it's not a big deal. Wood opened up about feeling suicidal, about feeling like it was her fault, and about feeling ashamed of herself for not fighting back more.

In one of the most powerful passages in the letter, she talks about the complicated feelings survivors wrestle with and what she wishes other people understood about those feelings:

"[Rape] should be talked about, because it's swept under the rug as nothing, and I will not accept this as 'normal.'
It's a serious problem.
I am still standing. I am alive. I am happy. I am strong. But I am still not okay.
I think it's important for people to know that, for survivors to own that, and that the pressure to just get over it already should be lifted.
It will remind people of the damage that has been done and how the trauma of a few minutes can turn into a lifetime of fighting for yourself.

In the wake of the dozen sexual assault allegations against President-elect Donald Trump, several other celebrities have also come forward with their own stories of sexual assault.

Minnie Driver was assaulted in Greece when she was a teenager.

Amber Tamblyn was assaulted by an ex-boyfriend in a bar.

Photo by Jamie McCarthy and Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

An estimated 63% of sexual assaults go unreported to the police according to the National Sexual Violence Research Center. Only 3 out of every 100 rapists will see jail time according to RAINN, using data from the Justice Department. This can no longer go unnoticed.

One way to change these statistics is for survivors to keep telling their stories until they're really heard. While their stories are difficult to hear and read, by speaking up, these women are giving a voice to the millions of people who have experienced sexual assault and felt like they couldn't seek help afterward.

It's imperative, now more than ever before, that we listen to and share stories like Wood's.

Of course, not every person who's been raped or sexually assaulted may be ready to open up about their experience, and that's OK too. What isn't OK is what Wood describes at the beginning of her letter — feeling like she had to stay silent because she didn't want to be accused of seeking attention or having her experience downplayed. She chose to come forward with her story to show other sexual assault survivors that they're not alone — in their experiences and in their feelings.

As Wood wrote in her letter, "the trauma of a few minutes can turn into a lifetime of fighting for yourself." As more people share their personal experiences, however, the fewer people will come out of traumatic experiences feeling ashamed and powerless. That makes a world of difference.

15 powerful photos break the connection between 'sexy' clothes and sexual assault.

Well, what were you wearing?

For her thesis project, Arcadia University senior Katherine Cambareri took pictures of clothes. But while the photos might appear ordinary, they’re anything but.

All the items she photographed were worn by students while they were sexually assaulted.

"Well, What Were You Wearing?" — Cambareri’s senior thesis project — aims to challenge how society can blame survivors of sexual assault by questioning the way they dress, she says.

Here are the items she photographed:

1. A simple women's T-shirt.

All photos by Katherine Cambareri, used with permission.

2. Converse sneakers.

3. A flowered tank top.

4. A standard long-sleeve T-shirt.

5. Sweatpants.

6. A lounge tank top.

7. A heavy winter sweater.

8. Jeans.

9. A casual baggy T-shirt.

10. A flannel.

11. Again, simple and casual jeans.

12. More baggy jeans.

13. Cotton shorts.

14. A simple necklace.

15. And, finally, a modest dress.

The moral of this story? What people wear has nothing to do with sexual assault.

Cambareri says the project was inspired by the book "Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town"by Jon Krakauer, a moving narrative of sexual assaults at the University of Montana.

“It really opened my eyes to victim blaming,” said Cambareri, “and the questions that survivors of sexual assault are asked [that] protect the perpetrator rather than the victim.”

The ultimate goal of her project? To challenge our beliefs about the connection between "too sexy" clothes and sexual assault: “I want people to take time to look at each photograph and realize that society’s assumptions are not always correct,” Cambareri said.

How this university is fighting back against sexual assault, one student at a time.

At Oxford University, consent classes are now required. More schools should follow suit.

“It's just locker room talk.”

"Boys will be boys."

“Grab ‘em by the pussy.”

I wish I could say it took time to come up with examples of perpetuating sexual assault. I wish I'd had to dig really deep for evidence. But the truth is, I had to figure out a way to cut my list down.

Photo via iStock.

Sexual assault is pervasive and widespread.

Nearly 1 in 5 women in the U.S. have reported being raped at some point in their lives. It's been found that 27% of college women experience some form of unwanted sexual contact, and nearly 2/3 of all college students experience sexual harassment.

Sexual assault doesn't just affect women either. About 1 in 71 men in the U.S. have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. And from 1995 to 2010, 1 in 10 rape victims were men.

Fortunately, one university is trying to change all this.

University of Oxford just announced that they're making consent classes mandatory for all incoming freshmen.

The university has offered consent courses for about five years, but they're finally making the classes "compulsory," or required, according to the BBC.

Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.

Run by the school's vice president for women Orla White, the 90-minute classes will operate within a series of workshops rather than like a typical college course. Topics like alcohol and affirmative consent will be discussed in the class, fostering real dialogue around a topic that is often overlooked on college campuses.

Oxford isn't alone: Many Americans schools are making decisions to curb sexual assault culture too.

Governor Jerry Brown made history by signing legislation to make consent education a mandatory part of the curriculum at many high schools and colleges in California. Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Maine are just a few of the states also working toward requiring campuses to use affirmative consent laws the standard for policy and legislation.

Photo via iStock.

University of Oxford's decision comes at a time where perpetuating rape culture is still viewed as "locker room talk" by far too many people.

Making consent classes mandatory everywhere is really important (some victims don't even report their assaults because they haven't realized they've been assaulted). It sends a message that joking about sexual assault is dangerous and simply unacceptable. Women and men are no longer accepting the notion that sexual violence against anyone at any point in life is somehow normal or a part of manhood.

When we educate our boys and girls about consent, we make strides toward preventing more than just sexual assault.

Sexual assault leads to a variety of issues for its survivors, from sexual transmitted infections, to post-traumatic stress disorder, to chronic pain, to strained relationships with family, friends, and intimate partners. But that doesn't have to continue. By acknowledging that we must be proactive in teaching consent, we tell our young men and women that understanding that "no" means "no" is just as important as what's taught in courses like chemistry or history.

By teaching our young people about consent, we put actions behind the idea that we are trying to do better, and our societies will be better for it.

It all goes back to 1992.

A lot of people wear denim every day. But on April 27, 2016, at least 4 million folks are wearing jeans with a purpose.

Photo via iStock.

The reason why dates back to a court case from the 1990s.

Justice failed to serve one woman, and it sparked calls for change that continue today around the world — yes, in the form of jeans.

Photo via iStock.

More than 20 years ago, a driving instructor in Italy was convicted of raping one of his students. In 1998, however, the ruling was overturned by Italy's Supreme Court.

Why? The then-18-year-old woman had been wearing tight jeans.

The justices surmised that, because tight jeans are difficult to remove, the victim must have helped in taking them off. By that standard, the court said, the interaction had to have been consensual.

Yes, a real-life supreme court ruled this way on a real-life case.

The day after the 1998 ruling, women in the Italian parliament came to work wearing jeans in an act of solidarity with the survivor.

And a movement was born.

The court eventually overturned its absurd ruling in 2008, in large part due to the amount of outrage expressed from near and far.

But every April, Sexual Violence Awareness Month, women's advocacy group Peace Over Violence encourages both women and men to wear jeans in honor of Denim Day. This year, it falls on April 27.

The campaign protests "erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault" around the globe. Because, unfortunately, these attitudes still persist — everywhere.

Denim Day may have resulted from an epic failure of justice in Italy in 1998. But the same injustice happens today in North America too.

In 2011, a Toronto police officer reportedly advised women "to avoid dressing as sluts" in order to be safe. Authorities in Montana brushed off an incident of rape as “probably just a drunken night” in 2013.

More recently, a presidential candidate suggested college women shouldn't "go to parties where there’s a lot of alcohol" if they don't want to get get violated, andjust this past March, a Florida judge implied it was kinda sorta a rape survivor's fault because she'd done the unthinkable — she dared to attend a dance festival.

But short skirts, booze, and dancing don't cause rape. Rapists do.

Blaming victims of rape and sexual assault for their violators' crimes only allows these backward attitudes to persist, and that dissuades victims from coming forward.

That's why you may spot a few more people wearing jeans on April 27.

Millions of people have signed on in support of #DenimDay to keep this critical conversation moving forward.

More than 4 million people have signed the pledge on the Denim Day website to support survivors of assault and fight against victim-blaming. You can be one of them too.

The Denim Day movement has made it loud and clear: "There is no excuse, and never an invitation, to rape."

Learn more about Denim Day and support efforts here.

Bill Cosby faces felony charges of aggravated indecent assault.

Finally, Bill Cosby is facing felony charges of aggravated indecent assault for an encounter with a woman in 2004.

If you didn't see this one coming, you're not alone.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press.

Charges were filed against Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, after new information surfaced in July that was relevant to the nearly 12-year-old case, according to The Washington Post.

Prosecutor Kevin Steele mapped out a timeline of events on Wednesday, claiming that the comedian befriended alleged victim Andrea Constand before making unwanted sexual advances, and then, in January 2004, using pills that "paralyzed" her before the assault. Constand's account, although disturbing, is unfortunately not that unique.

Since the 1960s, dozens of women have claimed Cosby sexually assaulted them, many saying the comedian used drugs to do so.

Women who've accused Cosby of sexual assault and sexual harassment — Colleen Hughes (L), Linda Ridgeway Whitedeer (C), and Eden Tirl (R) — at a news conference. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.

But like so many other accusations against powerful, wealthy, influential, and (at least in this case) universally beloved people, these women faced steep uphill battles in seeking justice — even when the arguments defending Cosby were flat-out ridiculous (thank you, Amy Schumer, for pointing this out to us).

On Wednesday, however, the first battle for justice was won.

This first victory is a truly remarkable win for the brave women who decided to speak up. Why? Because by speaking up, they had to overcome these three barriers (and many others):

1. No one wanted to believe Dr. Cliff Huxtable could be capable of sexually assaulting numerous women.

But we have to remember: Mr. Cosby and Mr. Huxtable are not the same person.

Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

The world fell in love with the Huxtables — "America's first black family" — on "The Cosby Show," with a beloved Bill steering the ship in the lead role.

"'The Cosby Show' debuted during the Reagan era, when the plagues of crack, AIDS, and spiraling homicide were ravaging African Americans," Jelani Cobb of the University of Connecticut told Ebony magazine. "['The Cosby Show' was] huge among black people because it was a counterpoint to the stream of negativity that we heard and saw about ourselves so frequently during those years."

And it wasn't just black people — America fell in love with Cosby and his Huxtable crew, making the show the country's most-watched TV program for five of the eight seasons it aired on NBC.

Off-camera, Cosby's advocacy in promoting education and children's literature further cemented admiration for the trailblazing entertainer who was making the world a better place.

But humans aren't one-dimensional characters. We have strengths and flaws. And even someone like Cosby — who used an A-list career and platform to do so much good — can also be capable of doing so much immeasurable harm.

The comedian the world fell in love with is not Mr. Huxtable. Challenging the world to realize that is a difficult feat these women had to take head on.

2. In many cases, time works against victims of sexual assault, unfairly so.

The allegations against Cosby are no different.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Statutes of limitations — laws that prevent someone from being charged with a crime if a certain number of years has passed since the crime occurred — often hinders a survivor's chance at justice.

Across the country, 34 states have statutes of limitations when it comes to filing rape or sexual assault charges. Seeing as "rape is a crime of shame and humiliation" that keeps many victims from coming forward for years or even decades, asYeshiva University's Marci Hamilton explained, statutes of limitations frequently favor the violators.

And even if survivors do come forward right away, slow, bureaucratic processes within law enforcement can prevent justice from being served once the statutes expire, as rape survivor Mel Townsend learned the hard way back in 2008.

In Constand's case, Cosby was just days away from being safe from any charges, as the alleged crime was committed in January 2004, and Pennsylvania has a 12-year statute of limitations when it comes to sexual assault instances like hers.

3. Celebrities oftentimes have a leg up in our supposedly blind justice system.

America loves its celebrities — so much so, we can't stand the thought of putting them in jail.

Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

There's no shortage of examples to look to. Celebrities have abused their partners, gotten DUIs , stabbed other people, and walked off scot-free (or damn-near close).

"There are two criminal justice systems in the United States," Matt Clarke wrote for Prison Legal News. "One is for people with wealth, fame or influence who can afford to hire top-notch attorneys and public relations firms, who make campaign contributions to sheriffs, legislators, and other elected officials, and who enjoy certain privileges due to their celebrity status or the size of their bank accounts. The other justice system is for everybody else."

A celeb like Cosby doesn't just have the best legal team money can buy, he also has the unique opportunity to belittle his accusers on a stage, in front of an audience of adoring fans who still think he's as clever as ever.

Today doesn't just mark a step forward for Andrea Constand. It's a big win, and sign of hope, for brave women everywhere who've decided to speak up.

Coming out as a survivor of rape and sexual assault can be an incredibly difficult thing to do. Doing it when the violator is an A-list celebrity with millions of trusting fans? That's a whole other ball game.

These women — and the countless others who've defended themselves in the face of injustice — deserve our respect and support.