Many times over the course of the last couple of weeks, people have approached me regarding the passage of legislation expanding the New York State DNA Databank. Some have been congratulatory, some have been concerned, but, mostly, a great many have simply had more questions than anything else. To the ordinary person, DNA is something that you hear about on TV crime dramas or read about in biology class. Unfortunately, I didn’t come about my knowledge of DNA through either of those modes but, rather, through circumstances that I would give anything to change.

Eleven years ago, I was a stay-at-home mom, raising my children—two sons and two daughters—and living a rather ordinary life. That all changed in the blink of an eye. Early one morning, after my husband had left for work, a man carrying a knife broke into my home. The very first—and last—room that he came across was that of my 12-year-old daughter, asleep in her bed. He raped her, cut her and then robbed her. Before leaving our home, he told her that if she told anyone, he would return to our home and kill not only her, but our entire family.

After going through the difficult but necessary procedures that follow a rape—the hospital exam, the police sketches, the detective interviews—we returned to our home and our lives, and we began to wait. And wait we did. When the months began to turn into years, we did a DNA grand jury indictment, meaning the DNA evidence from the crime was indicted as a “John Doe” defendant, thereby lifting the burden—and fear—that the statute of limitations might come around before an arrest did. Then, we went home to wait. Again.

Despite a detective who never gave up hope, it was hard for us to remain optimistic. Keep in mind that my daughter and all of my children, were very much aware that the perpetrator was still out there—free—and in their minds, very capable of returning, as he had promised he would. Due to “hits” in the DNA Databank with evidence from other crime scenes, we knew the perpetrator was still in the area and had been linked to other rapes, but we did not know his identity. When you spend your life looking over your shoulder, everyone becomes a suspect and the concept of being safe at home doesn’t exist. This was how we lived our lives for ten years.

Miraculously, the day came that we never thought we would see—an arrest was made in my daughter’s case. The perpetrator wasn’t caught in the act of raping one of his subsequent victims. He was caught because he stole money from his employer—a petit larceny. For a decade, he wreaked havoc on countless lives and what finally put him behind bars was the theft of a few dollars.

As odd as it may sound, my family got lucky, if it’s even imaginable to use such a term. Our luck came from the fact that the misdemeanor for which he was convicted was, at the time, one of the few  convictions in New York State that required him to give a DNA sample. Had New York not expanded its DNA Databank in 2006 to include some misdemeanors, the man who raped my daughter might not have been found. Yet despite our relief, we knew that more needed to be done. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to get lucky to get justice and the law should require DNA samples be given upon conviction for all crimes.

To that end, countless people fought for years for the DNA Databank to include samples for all convictions. I am proud to say that Governor Cuomo signed the expansion into law last month. It was a huge victory for all families in New York State. Not only does it ensure violent criminals are held accountable, but it will also go a long way towards preventing crime in the first place.

The arrest of my daughter’s attacker came with the guarantee that he can no longer devastate other families. It’s hard to say how many would-be victims would have been saved by this one arrest from the life of fear and “not knowing” our family experienced. The passage of this legislation has the potential to save thousands the heartache my family has endured. It also offers protection and hope to the wrongfully accused. Its passage was long overdue.

While nothing can ever undo the hurt my family has suffered, this new law does guarantee that the residents of New York will be safer. It offers hope that fewer parents will ever know such sorrow, that fewer little girls will live their lives looking over their shoulders and that families are safer both on the streets and in their homes. As New Yorkers, we should settle for nothing less.

At the bill signing ceremony, Governor Cuomo praised New York’s legislative leaders for reaching a compromise that would ensure that the State’s dual goals of safety and fairness are met. He said to the audience, which included members of law enforcement, district attorneys, survivors and advocates from across the state:

“I am proud to sign this bill today because this modern law enforcement tool will not only help us solve and prevent crimes but also exonerate the innocent. The bottom line is that this is a tool that works and will make the state safer for all New Yorkers.”

Ann M., the mother of a rape survivor and a courageous and passionate advocate for the families of survivors, thanked Governor Cuomo and the legislature for passing this historic legislation:

“By signing this bill today, the Governor and the Legislature are taking the necessary steps to not only solve and prevent violent crimes, but also help other families from the pain my family has suffered over the past decade—pain no parent should ever be forced to suffer.”

Other speakers at the ceremony included Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Elizabeth Glazer, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. They each applauded the efforts of Governor Cuomo and leaders in both houses of the legislature to pass this reform and make communities across New York safer.

Joyful Heart is part of a statewide coalition that has worked for the past two legislative sessions to advocate for the passage of this landmark DNA databank expansion.

The Databank currently captures offender DNA profiles for only 46% of crimes. Governor Cuomo has proposed expanding the Databank to include samples from offenders convicted of all felonies and all penal law misdemeanors. The Senate passed the proposal in January with overwhelming bipartisan support, but it is now stalled in the Assembly.

Expanding the Databank will solve and prevent crimes. It will allow more survivors of violent crimes to see their perpetrators brought to justice. Listen to the powerful story of Ann M., whose twelve-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted in their home. DNA evidence eventually led to the conviction of the attacker, but not until a decade later—when petit larceny became a qualifying offense for DNA collection.

Like Ann, too many survivors and their families wait years for justice and the healing it can bring. While they wait, their perpetrators remain free to commit other violent crimes.

For too many years, efforts to expand the State’s DNA Databank have failed. Please visit our Advocacy Center to tell your New York Assembly Member that it is time to make New York safe—for you, your family and your community.

We are happy to share with you that we have raised more than $5,500 through our GlobalGiving project to continue our work to end the backlog of untested rape kits and bring healing and justice to survivors of sexual assault.

We know that rape kit reform takes time—truly lasting change in the way our criminal justice system and we as a community respond to sexual violence will not come overnight. In our last GlobalGiving report, we gave you an introduction to our work in Detroit to end the city’s backlog of nearly 11,000 untested rape kits and support our collaborative partners through our Heal the Healers program.

Our commitment to end Detroit’s backlog of untested rape kits extends beyond supporting the wellness of police, social workers and prosecutors and today, we’d like to share another brief snapshot of what your funding is making possible.

Research on Victim Notification and the Rape Kit Backlog

With the goal of engaging and empowering survivors in the criminal justice system during rape kit reform, we are conducting critical research on victim notification, which is the process of being in contact with and updating survivors on the status of their rape kit evidence. Our research is not just informing our work in Detroit, but will also aid jurisdictions across the country that are working to end their own backlogs.

We have seen that when jurisdictions end their backlogs, arrest rates double and more perpetrators are convicted. Survivors experience healing and justice, perpetrators are held accountable and sexual violence is prevented.

Once a rape kit is turned over to police custody, the survivor generally does not have a legal right to be informed of the status of this evidence. Police are not obligated to share whether the kit is sitting in a storage facility or in line to be tested, or whether the evidence contained in it has linked to a perpetrator. It may be years—if at all—before a survivor hears from law enforcement about the rape kit, particularly in jurisdictions with very large rape kit backlogs.

Part of our role in Detroit is to help discover, navigate and implement best practices for conducting victim notification. For the past several months, Joyful Heart’s team has been conducting research on victim notification practices and procedures throughout the country that can serve as a model for Detroit as kits from thousands of survivors are tested.

There is very little written on the topic of victim notification, especially as it relates to a rape kit backlog. The significance of this research therefore has the potential to be great. With dozens of primary documents collected from agencies across the country and over 50 interviews with police officers, advocates, prosecutors, government officials, trauma experts and survivors—and many more still to come—we plan to share the findings of this research within the year. Our goal is for the results to serve as a resource—the first of its kind—to Detroit and jurisdictions across the country working to enact victim-centered rape kit reform.

“There are times [when] it feels very old, and there are times when it feels like it happened yesterday. If I could know that the kit was available and could be tested even 25 years later, and the DNA could be identified as belonging to a certain person or persons, I would be able to have that information [for] the rest of my life.”

“I have visions of my kit sitting on a shelf, of those police officers tearing up my report. That has an effect. I would want to know if the kit was tested, resources were used and someone did what they were supposed to. In some small way, it mattered.”

– Survivors who have never been notified about the status of their rape kits

Your donations are making it possible for us to conduct this research and create lasting rape kit reform—step by step, community by community. We thank you for continuing to stand with us in making a difference in the way we respond to sexual violence in the United States.

To make a donation and learn more about our GlobalGiving project, click here.

As Joyful Heart’s founder and president, Mariska Hargitay, said in a recently released video:

 “This reform will bring healing and justice to survivors, hold violent offenders accountable, solve and prevent crimes, and avoid wrongful convictions. We know that individuals who commit serious crimes, like rape, have broken the law before. A single DNA sample often matches to multiple cold cases when entered into the Databank. We also know that many rapists have previous convictions for lower-level crimes. In fact, since New York began collecting DNA samples for some misdemeanor convictions in 2006, offender profiles from shoplifting and criminal trespass convictions alone have matched to 332 sexual assault cases. It is now time for New York to use DNA to its fullest potential.”

While the NYS Senate has taken a very significant step toward bringing healing and justice to survivors of sexual violence and making our communities safer, the bill must now pass in the NYS Assembly. To send a message to your New York State assemblymember that you support expanding the DNA Databank, please visit bit.ly/JH_advocate.

VAWA has fostered coordinated responses to violence against women by bringing together the criminal justice system, social services agencies and private nonprofits that work with survivors. It is responsible for the creation of legal assistance programs for survivors and greater protections for immigrants experiencing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. If passed, the reauthorization will provide for enhanced criminal justice responses to sexual assault, greater prevention of domestic violence homicides and engagement of young people in stopping dating violence before it starts.

Please take action today to ensure that Congress reauthorizes VAWA. Write or call your senators and urge them to become co-sponsors of this vital piece of legislation. You can send the message we drafted or write a letter in your own words, expressing how critical VAWA is in the movement to end violence against women and girls. Calling your senators’ offices will guarantee that your message is heard. Visit our Advocacy Center for contact information and talking points for your letters and/or calls to your senators.

Thank you for your commitment to bringing healing and justice to survivors.

An FBI advisory board voted on December 6 to expand the definition of rape and sent the final decision on to Director Mueller. While testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller explained his support for updating the definition:

“That definition was in some ways unworkable, certainly not applicable—fully applicable—to the types of crimes that it should cover.”

The new definition states that rape is “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” In updating its terminology, the FBI removed the requirement that a rape involve force and expanded its reach beyond only female victims.

The updated definition of rape will allow local law enforcement agencies to report more sexual assaults to the federal government. In turn, the Uniform Crime Report, the FBI’s annual report on crime statistics, will give a more accurate picture of sexual violence that is reported throughout the country.

An eleven-member commission that the Attorney General’s Office convened also recommended a new policy that law enforcement agencies submit any untested kits to a state lab regardless of whether a decision has been made to prosecute. Previously, there had been no policy on submitting rape kits. According to the policy, these developments will ensure the entry of offender DNA into police databases.

Attorney General DeWine expects the amount of kits sent to Ohio crime labs will increase from 50 percent to 90 percent. He said:

“We want to assure victims of sexual assault their cases will not be forgotten. We are determined to bring these rapists to justice.”

While the extent of Ohio’s rape kit backlog is unknown, the attorney general’s office reported it has received 2,000 backlogged cases just from Cuyahoga County so far, which includes Cleveland. Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) currently tests 1,000 rape kits per year and expects that number to rise to 1,500 in the first year after the hiring of the new forensic scientists and 3,000 kits the following year. BCI is prepared to commit “whatever resources are necessary” to process additional kits.

Attorney General DeWine has explained, “The new policy is fairly simple: if a crime was committed, the kit should be submitted. If a crime probably occurred, law enforcement should submit the kit for testing.”

Cathy Harper Lee, Executive Director of The Justice League of Ohio and member of the attorney general’s commission, adds:

“When we have a victim report to us, and we feel there is substantial evidence that a crime occurred and we’ve seen a kit that’s not being processed…there is tremendous concern that the victim is not getting justice, and the offender is staying in the community to commit more crimes.”

In addition to the new testing policy, the attorney general’s office announced that the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) will enhance its current sexual assault training courses to emphasize law enforcement interaction with survivors, advocates and medical personnel. In partnership with the Attorney General’s Crime Victim Section, OPOTA will also produce an online course “to bring victim-focused training to every officer in Ohio” at anytime and free of charge.

With a grant from the federal government’s Office on Violence Against Women, the team created the “400 Project” to test 400 randomly selected kits from the backlog in order to determine the nature of the evidence and what kinds of cases are connected to the backlog. Among the 400 tested kits was a fourteen-year-old kit containing DNA evidence linking Antonio Jackson, now 38 years old, to the 1997 home invasion and rape of a woman at gunpoint. It is alleged that Jackson broke into the victim’s home at 3:50 a.m. on February 17, 1997, held her at gunpoint and raped her while her children slept in the same bed. He now faces charges of first degree criminal sexual conduct and home invasion and felony firearm charges.

The 400 Project is the first phase in a multi-phase approach to eliminating Detroit’s backlog. Detroit is one of two cities participating in a grant funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to study, plan and implement rape kit reform. Joyful Heart is a collaborative partner in this effort. Out of the project, the NIJ hopes to create a national standard for rape kit testing. As expressed by John Collins, Director of the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division:

This is such an emerging problem that has revealed itself on the national level. There’s not a national standard on how you make these decisions of what you test and in what order. In some extent, it’s like building the plane as you fly it.

The Plain Dealer reports that, “at least a third of reported sex offenses, including many involving children, have been classified by the police department as non-crimes with labels such as ‘miscellaneous’ or ‘departmental information.’”

The investigation began after police reported that a total of 26 sexual assaults were reported in the city over a three year period. Reporters questioned the statistics and eventually, the city produced 88 cases that had been reported in the years between 2008 and 2010. Many of the cases has been classified as unfounded, closed without changes or not labeled as rape or sexual offenses.

The Plain Dealer also found that the city under-reported the number of “forcible rapes” to the FBI as well. Though the FBI’s definition is currently more narrow than the state law’s definition of sexual assault, almost two dozen cases should have been counted. Only three were reported from 2008 to 2010.

Despite having an new policy on how evidence, including evidence from rape kits, is collected, stored and tested, the department doesn’t have a written policy on how sexual assault cases should be investigated. Another recent article in The Plain Dealer also describes how most departments in Cuyahoga County, where the cities of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights are located, do not have specific policies detailing how to handle sexual assaults.

“It is the responsibility of police to define and classify these crimes properly, and to report the numbers accurately,” Cleveland Rape Crisis Center President & CEO Megan O’Bryan said. “Victims will continue to be silenced if their reports are not taken seriously, investigated thoroughly, and correctly reflected in crime statistics,” O’Bryan said. “We regularly hear stories, in the media and within the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, of sex crime reports not being taken seriously, victims not wanting to ‘cooperate’ with police investigations, and investigations gone awry due to lack of understanding of sexual assault, guidelines and policies,” O’Bryan said. “A stand-alone sexual assault policy is a step on a really steep ladder to changing this climate for rape victims, but a step in the right direction.”

Read more of our coverage of Ohio’s response to sexual assault here on the Backlog Blog.